High School DxD: The Elder Gods
by Purple Karma
Summary: The Gods of the Earth, as well as the Three Factions thought they were the only supernatural forces to exist. What happens when the Gods of unknown creatures forge their way through the world while choosing a single boy to wield their power? Non-Perverted/Sociopathic/Semi-Insane Issei. Issei x Kalawarner x Maybe Harem? Contains Prototype, Dishonored, Skyrim, and other elements.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Forged by Madness **

_Religion had always been one of the basic concepts of humanity. Every day, people would pray to the gods and goddesses high above for their most heart-desired wishes. Whether it was peace, prosperity, fame, or fortune, it didn't matter. Every day they would pray in hopes that the high beings above would answer to their pleas for help and guidance, but not every prayer was always answered. _

_Christianity, Judaism Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and so on. Each and every one of these religions had their own versions of gods and or goddesses, and biblical/mythological creatures that were both good and evil. The beings that were mostly and widely known throughout various religions were the Three Factions, or most commonly known as the Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels. _

_Long ago during the olden times of mankind, the Three Factions were waged into a long and brutal civil war with each other that lasted for over three centuries. Thousands of Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels alike were slain in the bloody, gruesome war, including the God of the Bible and the Four Great Satans, but in the end, it was the Devils who had gotten hit the hardest. Sick, beaten, crippled, and tired of all the fighting and pointless deaths the war had caused, the three factions had decided to end the war and try to remain as neutral as they could, though sadly, smaller battles between the factions had still been fought. _

_Even with the after effects of the Great War, the Three Factions were still able to remain in their neutral boundaries while only a few squabbles between renegade soldier happened every once in a while. Through time and effort, the Angels and the Devils were able to rebuild most of their forces while also retaining their leadership. Everything had gone back to the way it was before the Great War. The humans still worshipped their gods, the said deities would answer their prayers, and the Three Factions had been able to live in somewhat harmony with each other. It seemed like all would be normal as usual. _

_But what if there were other gods and creatures far beyond the reaches of the solar system that even the gods of earth weren't even aware of?_

* * *

><p>Screams of pain and agony echoed throughout a hospital hallway and various doctors and nurses quickly rushed through carrying bags of fresh blood and syringes filled with morphine. The screams growing louder and louder the further they ran until they reached a door at the end of the hallway and quickly opened it revealing a woman with long, brown hair on a hospital bed hooked up to the nearby machines by her bedside. She was currently sweating and panting heavily with tears of pain in her eyes as she tightly clutched the hand of man with short, spiked brown hair wearing glasses, who was doing his best to comfort the woman while at the same time trying to ignore the pain in his hand.<p>

The doctors and nurses sprinted inside as they replaced the old blood bags with the fresh new ones on the rack that was near the woman's bed with a tube that was connected to a needle going into the woman's wrist. One of the doctors quickly ran over to the side of the bed and checked the heart monitor and sighed as it continued bleeping at a steady pace. He then went over the end of the bed where the nurses rolled over a small cart, which he happily thanked them for before turning over to the woman.

"You're doing great Mrs. Hyoudou. We just need you to take a few deep breaths before pushing. We know you're in a lot of pain but the sooner we get this done the better."

The woman gave a slight, teary nod before taking some deep breathes before putting force into her torso. The inside of her oversized stomach felt like it was on fire as she tried to bite her lip through the labor pains. Her husband, although also still in pain from his wife's sharp grip on his hand, continued to gently rub her back with his other hand while whispering words of encouragement into his wife's ear.

"You're doing excellent honey. Please, just a little harder and you can finally have all the rest you deserve. Just think of how happy we'll be when this is done. We're finally going to have a real family."

The wife could only give another silent nod as she continued pushing and pushing. Each and every time felt like shards of glass were leaving her body only to make room for more. But even through all the pain she was experiencing, the mere thought of her future family seemed to make it less painful. Finally, after months of continuous nausea and mood swings, they were finally going to have their first baby and become a real family. She could hardly contain her tears of joy when she found out she was pregnant. After burning through most of their savings in order to buy toys, clothes and even furniture for the baby's new room, all that was left was the long, nine-month wait and all the side effects that came with it.

A sudden jolt in her abdomen quickly shut down any remaining thoughts she had in her head before she let out another agonizing scream. Tightening her hold on her husband's hand, she grumbled in pain as her contractions became worse and worse as she tried her best to try to fight through the pain. The nurses continued working the machines while keeping the bags of blood and morphine in check. The doctor put on a pair of rubber gloves before looking back at the woman.

"Alright, we're almost done here. The baby's almost out. All I need you to do is give one last, hard push Mrs. Hyoudou then you're done."

Through tears of pain, the woman gave one more firm nod before taking a couple more deep breathes and, with all the strength she had left, unleashed all of the pressure within her body towards her abdomen.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs as she pushed with all her might. Her entire stomach felt like it was on fire as she continued to push. Her screams were so loud they echoed all the way out the door and through the entire hallway.

"That's it… almost there…. Keep going, and… here it is!" yelled the doctor in a joyful tone.

Finally, after what seemed like years of torture, the woman gave out a long sigh of absolute relief as the pain slowly subsided and she felt a sudden weight being lifted from her body. Through exhausted, half-lifted eyes, the woman was able to see the doctor walking over to a nearby sink with something in his arms. She heard the water run for a few moments before it shut off and saw the doctor approaching her bedside with a small bundle of blankets in his arms. He gave her and her husband a joyful smile before bringing the bundle down closer to her side, revealing the small, pale face of a sleeping baby wrapped comfortably in the blankets.

"Congratulations Mrs. Hyoudou" he said gently. "You've given birth to healthy, baby boy."

With tears in her eyes, the woman shakily brought her arms up and carefully took the baby within her own hold. She brought it close to her chest and gently rubbed its soft cheek with her hand while smiling down at it lovingly. Her tears of joy became more pronounced as she noticed the baby had the same shade of brown hair that her and her husband shared.

She was so focused on the baby that she hadn't noticed her husband kneeling next to her side and gently laying his hand on her shoulder while also staring lovingly at the baby with a smile on his face.

"He's beautiful. Just like his mother. You did wonderful tonight honey. Thank you so much."

"He certainly is our little gift from above, isn't he?" Mrs. Hyoudou asked in a quiet, fatigued voice as she spoke for the first time. Her husband gave her a nod before they both continued to watch their sleeping son with smiles on their faces. Nothing could have ruined this moment as both parents stared at their first child with all the love in the world.

With a sudden though in his head, Mr. Hyoudou looked back at his wife with a questioning look.

"What are we going to name him?" he asked her with curiosity.

Mrs. Hyoudou gazed back at her husband with semi-wide eyes, surprised at the sudden question before looking outside the nearby window with a contemplating look on her face. She stayed like this for a moment before widening her eyes and looking back at her husband with a smile on her face.

"Issei" she said before looking back down at her son and planting a soft kiss on his forehead. "We'll call him Issei."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Four hours later<strong>_

It was a dark and rainy night over the city of Tokyo, Japan as the millions of tiny water droplets fell from the dark clouds above and down unto the streets and buildings below. The city's building light were still alight though barely any cars roamed in its streets, due to it being about two o' clock in the morning. The wind was lightly blowing lazily within the sky and the occasional chirping of birds could be heard in the distance.

In the dark, cloud-filled sky that loomed over a large forest near the outskirts of the city, a small light suddenly made itself known throughout the large sea of clouds as it continued to grow larger and larger with each passing minute until broke through the clouds and descended towards the forest with a great speed and a trail of fire blazing behind it. Within a moment, it disappeared completely within the tree line and the sound of a _'CRASH'_ could be heard echoing throughout the entire forest.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Near the crash site<strong>_

A small crater could be seen torn into the ground as various cracks and patches of dirt and mud surrounded the hole within a five foot perimeter. Within the crater was what looked like a dark grey rock halfway penetrated within the earth about the size of a beach ball with numerous small holes covering its surface. A small trail of smoke could also be seen emanating from the rock's surface as well from the holes as it blew lazily in the wind.

Suddenly a large crack formed all the way across the rock's surface as it slowly began open up. More steam erupted from the inside as the rock split wider in half. When it was completely open, a small silhouette slowly began to float out of the rock until it was about two feet in the air before floating forward and into the moonlight.

The silhouette was revealed be to what was quite possibly the strangest, yet creepiest, creature to ever thought to exist. Its small body was completely black while some parts of it were a lighter shade of brown. Its small head was a complete blob of boneless black flesh that had nothing but two, small slitted eyes that were about an inch long. Emanating from its nonexistent chin area were five, small ugly green tentacles hanging lifelessly from under its head. The rest of its small body was literally nothing but an entire torso of pitch black fur with no arms emanating from either side of the fur. Below its furred body, right where the legs should be, was instead more ugly green tentacles that were slowly moving and waving in the air as the creature floated in its place.

The creature closed its miniature eyes and just stood there floating in mid-air for a few moments as if in deep concentration before it opened its eyes back up and the tentacles beneath its head began moving in fast, wave-like motions. It gave off a light gurgling noise from its nonexistent mouth before quickly floated forward and disappeared within the trees.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Near the outskirts of Tokyo<strong>_

The creature emerged from the nearby forest trees and saw that it was near a large, white building that was about three stories tall. As it stealthily moved near the tree line while trying to search for a way inside, it was soon able to spot a second story window that was slightly open. It quickly ascended its height a moved towards the window where it used one of its tentacles to slowly open it wide enough for it to squeeze through without making a hint of noise.

Once it was inside, the creature noticed that it was in a fairly large room with all-walls along with some counters and machines that were near a bed and hooked up to woman with long, brown hair who looked to be in a deep sleep. The creature's main focus however, was on a small crib that was on the opposite side of the woman's bed near the wall. It floated over and looked down into the crib where a male baby wrapped in blankets was also sleeping peacefully. The creature simply starred at the small infant for a few moments until it lowered one of its tentacles down on the child's head and gave it a gentle rub.

This small action caused the sleeping child to stir a bit before it opened its eyes, revealing to be a deep brown color. The child scanned its surroundings before his eyes settled on the creature that was floating right beside him with its tentacle hanging over his head. Instead of crying and screaming in a fit of fear or sadness, the child simply stared at the creature's tentacle with wide and curious eyes before making a small gurgling sound and retrieving his tiny arms from inside the blankets and reaching up and grabbing the tentacle with his tiny hands.

The creature stared in fascination as the infant grabbed its tentacle with its tiny, dry hands. It had never come into contact with any other beings besides its own kind, but the creature found that it wasn't as disgusting as it thought it would be. Sadly, it had no time to interact with the little human any longer.

Its master had sent it to this planet for a reason. And it just so happened that this little child was that particular reason.

The creature slowly withdrew its tentacle from the infant's hands, which caused the little boy pout his upper lip in up sadness. Acting quickly before it was discovered, the creature brought up its tentacle and closed its eyes in deep concentration before the tip of the tentacle suddenly began to morph into the shape of a tiny needle. It then opened its eyes and looked back down at the infant, who had tears in his eyes and looked to be on the verge of crying. But before he could whimper a single sound, the creature reared back its tentacle…

…and plunged the entire needle straight into the baby's forehead, causing his entire body to stiffen and his eyes to freeze wide open.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Somewhere far, far away in the deep, reaches of Space<strong>_

Over a billion light years away from the Solar System was a galaxy filled with nothing but darkness. It had very little to no light from any of the stars that dwelled within the galaxy because each star was either a giant, black sphere filled with fire that blended into the darkness or they were simply nothing but debris floating endlessly in the infinite vacuum. If you were lucky, you might have been able to see one or two suns that even then, brought very little light. Each and every planet that resided within this galaxy held nothing but untold, undiscovered mysteries and horrors that didn't exist to humanity or any other beings in the universe. Within each planet resided a civilization of unimaginable creatures that existed outside of human reality and would turn even the strongest of minds completely insane by a simple glance.

In fact, this entire galaxy existed so far out of reality that not even the strongest gods and goddesses of earth even knew it existed.

Held within the very center of this galaxy was a massive creature so large that it was bigger than any planets or stars that were thought to exist. It was so large that it was even half the size of the galaxy itself. Its appearance, however, was something that not even the wildest of imaginations could conjure up. It was possibly more terrifying than any nightmare that has ever existed. If one ever saw it and wasn't driven insane, they would've said that it didn't resemble just one being, but perhaps over a million beings mixed together into one giant monster.

Every inch of the being's body was covered with long, large sickly green tentacles that flew and swiped in every direction. The tips of some of the tentacles held large, salivated jaws filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, while others had deep, slitted eyeballs that were the size of planets, doing nothing but blinked their colossal sized lids while occasional looking off in a random direction along with large, razor-sharp claws that could slice a planet in half. Other sections of the being's body were also filled with large jaws and eyeballs, as well as planets-sized, pulsating postules that would throb around and occasionally pop, releasing ocean-sized amounts of a strange black liquid into the vacuum.

The great beast floated aimlessly in the eternal black void of space, its many mouths silently opening and closing while its colossal tentacles waved together in sync as it waited for one of its servants to complete its task. Just a while ago he had transported him over a billion light years away to the long and distant blue planet known as Earth that was located within the Milky Way Galaxy in order for him to find a particular human that had just been born. The beast didn't know why, but for some reason, this particular human had intrigued him. He had watched through an intergalactic portal as the child was born into the world from his mother's womb, and already the beast could sense large potential within the boy that could be proven useful in the future.

The beast's movements suddenly halted in place as its tentacles stopped swaying and every single one of its jaws closed shut as it felt a slight tug deep within its subconscious. It seems that his servant had been successful in his mission and was attempting to contact him.

With a small pull, the beast opened up its link to his servants own subconscious before a high pitched, crusty voice spoke.

"_**Mah'kn, Ya hyuop argh'k li goff' ta ciugd'n"**_ _**(Master, I have found the child as you commanded). **_Spoke the servant from earth in an unknown and contorted language with respect in its voice.

"_**E'gyili Xul, Ya tut ak'um efferm de prypun?" (Excellent Xul, I trust everything is prepared?).**_ The beast asked in a voice that boomed deeper than thunder.

"_**Ye't Mah'kn, li ergy sa'id ha be'n imsid writ li goff's bir'n. Ta mik bihn' wuhn ra'dy" (Yes Master, the energy seed has been implanted within the child's brain. You may begin when ready). **_The newly named Xul confirmed.

"_**Vyu wol" (Very well). **_The beast replied.

Suddenly a large, pitch black and dark green aura manifested itself around the beast's entire, colossal-sized body before it shot off with tremendous speeds in a random direction, leaving a large trial before it followed soon after.

"_**Sa de d'ne. Pryp'ron ta'sul fon we'n ki com'a Xul" (It is done. Prepare yourself for when it comes Xul). **_The beast spoke after a deep sigh.

"_**Fuhmon mu Mah'kn, bt' Ya im wru'd. Weh aout li godd'a ah li sip'rnontra'l kutre's fo lis plea'na? Thi wul sru'yl sin'k tar pwer'mal ar'a we'n sa arrike's et wul tir ot tick li goff' fon thumels" (Forgive me Master, but I am worried. What about the gods and supernatural creatures of this planet? They will surely sense your powerful aura when it arrives and will try to take the child for themselves). **_Xul told his master with a bit of worry and fear in his voice. Worry going out for the child, but fear of being killed for showing such weakness in front of his master.

Though you couldn't see it, the beast twitched its many mouths and eyes into that of a large scoff. It had already known about the many gods and goddesses that inherited the earth's many religions, along with the so called "Great" War that was waged between the three factions. Compared to him, the gods and goddesses were nothing more than the earth's flies for him to sway at. Even if they combined of their powers together, it still would be nowhere near a fraction of his own power. And the civil war on the planet Xoth would have made the war between the Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils look like nothing more than a mere slap on the tentacle. It was pathetic really, to know that these supernatural creatures would have the gull to even call it a war in the first place.

But the beast had no time to squander over such things. Many things were coming to the planet Earth in the future, and that child was the only one who would be able to stop them. Oh yes, the gods, goddesses, and supernatural creatures of Earth will try to get their hands on the child, even try to recruit him into their armies to fight for them. But once the beast's aura reached Earth and implanted itself into the child's body, he would definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the future. But who he decided to join and kill would be all up to him.

"_**D'nt wirhy Xul. On'k li goff' rekives mon piw'r, thi'se pitnon kutre's wint dar ot apriche hi'm ontil li tum de rikt" (Don't worry Xul. Once the child receives my power, those pitiful creatures wouldn't dare to approach him until the time is right). **_The beast boomed with a touch of confidence.

"_**Oh kell Mah'kn. Fuhmon mu fon mon mulin fo win'kin. Ya wul run'in we'n li ergy de finis bin'on transa" (Of coarse Master. Forgive me for my moment of weakness. I will return when the energy is finished being transferred).**_ And with that, the link to Xul's subconscious was cut.

The beast, also known as Azathoth, the Nuclear Chaos, Daemon Sultan, and the Blind Idiot God once again began to float aimlessly in the infinite black void within the middle of his own galaxy as he contemplated in his own deep, dark thoughts. It was only moments until his powerful aura finally reached Earth and implanted itself within the boy's body. Only moments until his entire life changed forever. But for good or for worse he didn't know. Once the boy gained his power, it would be up to him to him to carve his own path in the future. If he wanted to save his entire planet from the things that have still yet to come, then this had to be done. It's not that Azathoth actually cared whether the boy saved the planet or not. He literally couldn't have cared less if the entire planet ended up being destroyed. He was simply doing this out of boredom and expected to be entertained either way.

He just hoped that he chose wisely.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Within the Solar System <strong>_

A colossal-sized trail of black and green colored aura sped past each planet of the Solar System with unbelievable speeds as it made its way towards its destination. The farther it traveled, the more powerful and faster it became as it sucked up the surrounding energy from space itself.

As soon as the blue planet came into view, the massive aura glowed a bright green for a moment before shooting off at an even greater speed towards its beacon located in a large island country with the blue ocean. The aura suddenly began to shrink t a miniature size as soon as it came into contact with the planet's atmosphere, where it was gradually sucked in and disappeared into the country.

And for the briefest of moments, the entire planet shook.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Underworld<strong>_

Deep within the Underworld that was also the birthplace of the Devil faction, a young man within his early twenties bolted upright in his bed now fully awake and with a look of complete shock on his face. He was a handsome man with long hair that was the same shade of blood and reached all the way to the way down to the middle of his back along with bright eyes that were as green as emeralds. He was struggling to breathe as sweat rolled down his forehead as well as his back after sensing the enormous power fluctuation with large amount of pressure that rippled throughout the entire Underworld, along with the human world above.

"Lord Sirzechs, do you sense it as well?" asked a soft, feminine voice from right beside him. He looked over to his left and saw his wife giving him a knowing yet worried look. She was around his age with long, silver-white hair that she usually kept tied into ponytails, except for now it was untied and reached all the way down her back. Her dark, brown eyes held signs of worry as well as fear.

The newly named Sirzechs, also known as Sirzechs Lucifer, one of the Four Great Satans as well as respected leader of the Devils, took a couple of deep breathes to compose himself before looking back over to his wife and laying a hand on her pale shoulder while giving her a reassuring smile.

"Yes Grayfia, I did. And it was enormous. Far greater than anything I have ever felt before. Greater than an Ultimate-Class Devil and even a Great Satan. It felt like it was on par with the Ouroboros Dragon's energy, maybe even greater."

The now appointed Grayfia, stared at her husband with widened eyes and her mouth slightly agape as she listened to her husbands claim. "I'm sorry my lord, but greater than the _Ouroboros Dragon's?_ You're talking about the Infinite Dragon God, who's supposed to be the most powerful being in existence. The only other being that could even match up to it would be the Apocalypse Dragon. And we both know that the energy surge we felt just now couldn't have come from it either."

Sirzechs gave out a long sigh before running a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know either Grayfia. It's just an assumption, but whatever it is, it's definitely not from this world, or even the Dimensional Gap for that matter. It felt as though it were from somewhere completely non-existent. It felt heavy, dark, unfamiliar, and…monstrous. We should definitely keep an eye on wherever this power is coming from, and make sure it doesn't become a problem in the future."

Grayfia's eyes seemed to soften as she listened to her husband's statement but still held a tint of fear in them. Wherever that power came from had worried her greatly. It did indeed feel dark and monstrous but it also didn't feel entirely evil. And who or whatever contained that power would definitely need to be watched on in the future.

"Very well my lord. But let us return to bed some can deal with this strange anomaly in the morning." She said softly before laying back down and returning to her sleep.

Sirsechs looked at his now sleeping wife for a few moments before taking another deep sigh and laying his head back down on the pillow while staring up into the ceiling. That power fluctuation was indeed enormous. So enormous that he had no doubt the other factions, as well as the Ouroboros and Apocalypse Dragon had all felt it as well. He just hoped that this wouldn't lead to another conflict.

He quickly shook his head of the thoughts as soon as they entered his mind. He was the Crimson Satan. He couldn't afford to show any sort of weakness, especially to something as little as a power surge. Sure it may have been large, but he was sure that it wouldn't cause any harm in the future. Although he was still genuinely curious as to where it came from, and he was sure he would find out soon enough.

_Who or what possesses that power?_ Was his final thought before he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep along with his wife.

* * *

><p><em><strong>In an abandoned warehouse<strong>_

Just as the Crimson Satan had stated, the enormous power surge had been sensed throughout the entire world by many of the supernatural beings.

Currently, another man who appeared to be in his early thirties was sitting at a table within a warehouse with his chin in his hand as he held a contemplating look on his face. He had short, black hair with a mix of gold bangs that covered his forehead, along with a small beard that was on his chin. He was wearing a long, purple v-neck trench coat along with black pants and brown dress shoes.

Azazel, also known as the former Governor General of the Fallen Angels and Grigori organization, silently hummed to himself as he got lost within his thoughts. Like the others, he too had sensed the massive power surge that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and shook the entire ground he walked on. Even with his normally calm and carefree attitude, he couldn't help but feel momentarily shell shocked at the amount of energy that was enough to shake the entire world. He would've easily mistaken it for the Dragon God if it wasn't for the dark and otherworldly aura that the fluctuation had around it.

He honestly didn't know what to make of it. Yes, he was incredibly smart when it came to these sort of things, but this forerunner feeling that that aura gave off had left him absolutely clueless. Yet it had also made him feel extremely eager even though he didn't show it.

_Hmm. I should inform Raynare, Kalawarner, Dohnaseek, and Mittelt to keep an eye on this in the future. I wonder who in the world has such a power anyway._ Azazel thought to himself as he continued to maul over the situation.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Heaven <strong>_

Even when the Earth was in its time of night, the eternal plain of Heaven was still alight with its everlasting beauty and full glory. The birthplace of the Angels however, was currently in a state of panic as many of the Angels were quickly flying towards the safety of their homes.

Within a large throne-room, located in a nearby castle was a single Angel that was looking out of the balcony and up to the sky. Like the other two, this one also appeared to be a male who had long, golden hair that flowed down to his upper back. He wore large, white Angelic robes with a large red cross printed on the front. His usual sad-looking, bright green eyes were now fully wide with awe and shock. He too, along with the other two faction leaders had also felt the immense power that sweeped through the entire Earth as well as the Underworld and the Plain of Heaven. It was so large that it was somehow able to shake the entire ground of all three locations. It was something he had never felt before, and didn't think he'd ever forget either.

"So I take it you sensed it as well Michael?" asked another male voice and the newly named Michael, leader of the Angels and the Kingdom of Heaven, looked behind him to see a male Angel with long, brown hair that also reached the top of his back wearing brown and white Angelic robes with twelve golden wings coming out of his back. He also appeared to be wielding a long, golden staff with a single feather hanging from the top.

Raphael, also known as the Holy Healer, one of the Seven Archangels of Heaven, as well as lifetime friend of Michael had a troubled look on his face as he walked up and stood next to Michael and also looking up into the sky. "You're not the only one. Every Angel in Heaven, and I'm assuming the Fallen Angels of Earth along with the Devils of the Underworld have also sensed it. So strange…it's feels not of this world, but also dark and a little menacing. This could be problem."

Michael was momentarily surprised at his friend's hypothesis before adding in his own opinion. "While I do agree that this aura has a dark feeling towards it, it is also not entirely evil. Almost on the borderline of neutral. Yet it's still very large." He concluded with his soft and gentle voice.

"Indeed. No doubt that anyone with that amount of power must be dangerous." Said yet another male voice as both Angels turned around and saw an Angel with light, brown hair tied into a braid around his head. He was also wearing a white, Angelic robe that was covered by another that was deep red. He had twelve golden wings jutting out from his back while he carried a book with a gold cross on the cover.

"Uriel" said Raphael in his deep voice as he sent a nod towards the now named Uriel. Said Angel of Light, also one of the Seven Archangels of Heaven, sent him a nod in return before walking forward and joined the other two on the balcony. "So, what do you two make of this mysterious energy?" he asked in calm, gentle voice.

"So far we have deduced that it is not of this world, but from somewhere else entirely" said Michael. "Which is strange because there aren't any beings that I know of who have energy this large except for the Infinite Dragon God and the Apocalypse Dragon. And we all know that their energies don't feel anything like this."

"Yes, you're right" agreed Uriel. "The Dragon God's energy is too empty and hollow while the Apocalypse Dragon's is too wild and unstable. This on the other hand has more of a darker, yet maddening feel to it" he said as he looked up into the sky with his own questioning glance.

"We should watch for the source of this energy and make sure it doesn't cause us any trouble" suggested Raphael. "We're still trying to recuperate all of our forces from the Great War, and the Almighty knows we don't need any more problems than we already have."

"Perhaps you both are correct" spoke Michael as he turned to face the two. "But for now we have to put this matter on hold. Like Raphael said, we're still trying to recover our forces from the Great War. And with the God of the Bible gone, we are at a disadvantage. And to ensure that any peace will come with the other two factions, we'll need all the strength we can get. So for now, let's put this matter aside and save it for another time."

With that, the three Angels bid each other farewell before going their separate ways. Michael, deciding to stay on the balcony for a while longer, simply continued to stare up into Heaven's shining sky. All while thinking of the future events to come, as well as the mysterious aura.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Thirty minutes earlier, back within the Hospital room<strong>_

Xul gave off a small, satisfying gargling sound as the last of his Master's energy was transferred into the child's body. During the entire transfer, the child had simply laid absolutely still within his crib with his eyes frozen wide open. Xul had also noticed that the child's body had gone through some minor changes while the energy was being injected into him. His skin had become a little paler while his hair had grown a darker shade of brown. So brown that it almost looked black. The most noticeable change, however, was his eyes. What used to be innocent looking, doe-brown eyes were now a pair of dark green orbs with a mix of purple that shined like glass. As soon as he removed the needle from the infants head and the energy had been fully injected, the baby closed its eyes and had fallen asleep also instantaneously. As if the whole thong had never happened.

So now here was Xul, still standing over the baby's crib, gently rubbing his forehead with his tentacle. Even though he had only been with him for an hour, Xul had sort of grown attached to the little human. He had never met another race of beings except for his own and a few others that were like him, so it had been an interesting experience to be able to interact with another species that was completely foreign to him.

With a small gargle that represented a sigh, Xul rubbed the boy's head one more time before retracting his tentacle and floating away from the crib.

"_**Ya hi'te tar roun'k goff'. Lop wul nok bi eici, bof w'olu tihk piw'r, ta wim bu sting'la tahn oni if li godd'a et kutre's oof tis plea'na. Fernul goff', Ya hi'te wi mot agsul." (I hope you're ready child. Life will not be easy, but with this power, you will be stronger than any of the gods and creatures of this planet. Farewell child, I hope we meet again). **_And with those last few words in his unknown language, Xul was surrounded in a small, black aura before he disappeared from sight, leaving the newly transformed baby to sleep alongside his mother for the rest of the cold, rainy night.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: And here's chapter one for my new story on one of my other favorite anime! The Elder Gods of a forgotten mythology have just been introduced to the DxD universe and have chosen Issei to wield their power! How will the three factions, as well as some of earth's gods handle the power of the unknown gods? Stick around and find out!<strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School DxD, any of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos characters, or anything else. The only things I own are my own characters. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Hidden Knowledge **

_**Ten years later**_

"Hey guys! Look at the freak!" laughed a tall boy as he punched another boy in the face, who fell to the ground with a large bruise on the side of his head.

Said other boy simply rubbed his head before trying to stand, until he was kicked in the stomach by another kid, who grinned and looked smugly down at him.

"Yeah, look at him! He can't even fight back! He's weak!" the other boy yelled as he kicked the injured kid in the stomach once again.

Ten year-old Issei Hyoudou didn't even make an attempt to block the bullies' strikes as he just laid on the ground and continued to let himself get beaten with no emotion etched into his face. His dark, purple-green eyes bared no traces of tears or pain as the older boys continued to kick his stomach and stomp on his limp and bruised form. Ever since he could remember, he had been bullied by the other kids all because he was quiet. He never really spoke much to any of the others unless they spoke to him first. And it was because it his constant quietness that he ended up getting bullied in the first place. Apparently some taller boys thought it would be fun make fun and pick on him because since he was so quiet, that he wouldn't do anything to defend himself.

And they were right, he didn't ever defend himself. No matter how many times he got pushed, shoved, hit, beaten, or kicked, he not once ever tried to fight back. Frankly he didn't see the point because he knew that it would only get him into more trouble. And trouble was basically what his entire life was like. The only place where he even felt remotely safe was his home, because his parents were the only people he knew that were even nice to him. At home, he felt warm, safe, and loved, but at school he was abused, called names, and made fun of simply because he was a quiet kid. He always felt cold, scared alone.

Those feelings, however, all disappeared about four years ago was he was molested by one of his teachers.

It was a day he literally felt like he was in hell. His teacher had told him to stay after class when all of the other kids had left so he could speak to him about the fights he had been getting into. At first he was happy to know that he had at least gotten some help from someone that wasn't his parents, not that he didn't appreciate their help or anything like that. He just wanted to have one person he could come to and rely on whenever he was sad.

The thought had slowly died in his head when he noticed the teacher had locked his classroom door and slowly walked towards him with a terrifying grin on his face while unbuttoning his shirt and trapping him in a corner. Then he attacked him and held his arms and legs down on the ground while unbuckling his pants. The next thing that happened was…

Well, let's just say that he was glad he couldn't remember what had happened next. The only thing he could remember was him lying in a hospital bed staring at the ceiling with hollow eyes with bruises and bandages covering his entire body and his mother crying her eyes out by his bedside, with his father at her side trying to comfort her while crying tears of his own.

Ever since that day, he was a complete shell of his former self. He no longer cared what the other kids did to him or how much they beat him. The only time he ever showed any emotion was at his home around his parents. And jot once did he ever try to make friends, because he simply just didn't care anymore.

His daily beating soon came to an end when the sound of the school bell rung throughout the playground, signaling the end of school. With a scoff, the leader of the bullies delivered one last kick to Issei's stomach.

"There goes our fun. See you next week freak" he said before he and the other bullies turned around and left in the opposite direction.

Issei simply just laid on the grass as all of the other students left the school. Neither one of them ever noticing the injured ten year-old who was left behind. Issei lied there on his side, clutching his bruised stomach while he stared at the ground with cold, emotionless, half-lidded eyes. Even though he didn't care anymore, he wished deep inside that all this pain would just go away. He wished that he could just stand up for himself and teach those kids a lesson for making his life a living hell. He wish he could just go back in time, find his teacher, and hurt him very badly for touching him. He didn't want to be weak, he wanted to be strong.

_**(And you can. If that is what you desire…)**_ spoke a chilling, disembodied voice.

Issei suddenly bolted his head upright and winced in pain from the bruises. He frantically shook his head left and right, scanning his surroundings trying to locate the origin of the voice. After moments of continuous searching, Issei furrowed his brows in confusion when he couldn't find where the voice had come from. Strange. It sounded like it was right on top of him, yet there wasn't a single person in sight. Issei also noticed that he must have been out of it for quite some time because he felt little droplets of rain lightly tapping the top of his head. With a sigh, Issei shakily, yet painfully, got up onto his feet and limped his way towards his home. Thankfully he lived relatively close to the school so he only had to limp about a block or so.

As Issei limped towards his house, he failed to notice a dark figure that was watching him from behind a nearby tree. The figure stroked its chin as it watched the retreating the child with fascination.

"So this is the child that contains all of that tremendous energy I sensed all those years ago." The figure spoke in a deep, gravel-like voice. "Hmm, he certainly is a curious little one. Perhaps I should keep my eye on him for a while. A pity he doesn't know of the power he holds within himself." The figure said before it disappeared from sight.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hyoudou Residence, six hours later<strong>_

"Here you go sweetie. This should get rid of the bruises and make your head feel better." Kazane Hyoudou said sitting on the side of her son's bed as she gently placed a warm towel on his forehead.

She nearly had a heart attack earlier this afternoon when she saw Issei limping inside the house with bruises on his arms and legs, as well as some on his head. She knew he had been bullied by the other boys every once and a while. And it made her heart break every time he came home bruised. Ever since the incident with his teacher four years ago, they had moved to a different town in hopes of finding a safer place where her son could be happy. But now it seems that trouble follows wherever they went because just a few weeks after they moved into their new neighborhood and enrolled Issei into his new school, he was bullied once again. And it made her want to cry her eyes out knowing that she couldn't do anything to protect her baby. And what's worse was that Issei didn't seem interested at all in making any friends. It looked as though he just wanted to stay alone no matter how many times she tried to convince him into making friends. What also made it worse was that they couldn't afford to move anywhere else. So with nothing left to do, they would have to remain here until they were able to come up with more money in able to move again.

"Thanks mom" Issei said to his mother quietly with a small sigh of relief after putting on the hot towel. He made himself comfortable in his bed and was about to fall asleep until his mother bent down and gave him a long, soft kiss on the cheek. After a moment, she removed her lips from his face and gave him a warm, loving smile before gently rubbing his other cheek with her hand.

"I love you Issei. So, so much. And don't let those other boys bother you. They just don't understand how special you are." She said with all the love in the world before giving him one last kiss on the cheek and walking towards the door. She turned around and gave her son a smile. "Goodnight Issei" she said before she shut the door.

Issei laid on his bed and stared at the closed door for a few moments before allowing a small smile make its way onto his lips and a few tears to drip down from his eyes. He made a small sniffling noise before he stared back up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. Ready to be drowned in eight hours worth of a peaceful sleep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Within Issei's inner subconscious, three hours later<strong>_

Issue woke up to notice that he was no longer in his bed within his room, but instead was now laying on a hard floor that was surrounded by cold water. The sky above him was pitch-black and he was able to make out traces of white fog that was floating within the darkness. Confused, and a little scared at where he was, Issei got to his feet to scan his surroundings, while taking note that the water mysteriously didn't make his clothes or skin wet as he got up. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but complete darkness and the wisps of white fog that floated aimlessly in the air.

In one last effort, Issei puffed out his chest was about to yell out to see if anyone was near until he heard a faint splash come from behind him. He quickly spun around and almost fell back on the ground in complete shock at what he saw.

Right in front of him was probably the largest door he had ever seen in his entire life that was surrounded by a large, black wall that seemed to expand in all different directions for miles. The door was about as tall as his house and was a dark green color. Carved right into the door was what appeared to be images of all sorts of different creatures and scary looking monsters he had never seen before. Some were large that had numerous appendages coming out of their bodies such as tentacles, claws, spikes, nails, teeth, and even eyeballs. Others were small that had no limbs whatsoever and instead were nothing but floating blobs whose bodies were covered with eyes and jaws. The one that stood put to him the most though was the one that was right in the middle of the door. It had two arms and legs like a normal person except its head looked like a large octopus and its fingers and toes were replaced with claws. It had a large body that was composed of scales along with two large bat wings jutting from behind its back.

Before Issei could even make a move to get a closer look, the door suddenly made a loud, hinged sound, as if the door was being unlocked. A large line then appeared all the way down the middle of the door, where it slowly began to open. Issei took a few steps back when the door was fully opened, revealing nothing but darkness and a gust of cold air that blew right past him, causing him to wrap his arms around his body and shake in his place. He then began to hear a single set of footsteps and saw that a single, human figure was making its way towards him and out of the opened door. Once the figure was clear enough from the darkness inside the door, Issei openly gaped at what he saw.

Standing in front of him was what appearing to be a human wearing a set of black armor mixed with gold. It had gold gauntlets, boots, as well as two shoulder pieces that took on a strange resemblance to dragon heads that protruded from out of his shoulders. He also wore a gold mask that looked somewhat like the large monster he had seen in the middle of the door. It had four small tentacles that curved downward on the bottom of the mask along with horn-like appendages that were slicked back near the top. In the middle of the mask was a pair of dark, slanted, baggy eye holes that were currently boring right into Issei's scared purple-green eyes.

The two merely stared at each other in complete silence for about a minute before the armored human raised its left hand in a calming gesture.

"_**You need not be frightened of me, child. I mean you no harm."**_ The human spoke in a deep, echoing male voice.

This however, did not calm Issei's nerves as he continued to slightly shake from the cold, but also in fear. "W-Who are y-you?" he asked as he continued to shiver.

Seeing his shivering form, the human turned hallway towards the door while still staring at Issei. _**"Perhaps it would be best if we continued this elsewhere. Come. It will be warmer inside."**_

Issei still wasn't convinced as he continued to stay rooted to his spot. The human gave off a deep sigh before turning his back to Issei and facing towards the door. _**"I give you my word that no harm will come to you, child. The answers to everything that you seek lies inside. All you have to do is follow."**_ And with that, he made his way back inside the darkness within the door.

Issei stood in his place contemplating on what to do. He somehow ended up in a dark and cold place that seemed to go on forever in every direction, and suddenly this armored man emerges from a large door and tells him to follow him, not knowing at all where the darkness inside the door could lead. But the man had also told him that it was where he would find the answers to what he was looking for. And so far, following him seemed to be his best bet. So, with great reluctance, Issei slowly began to walk forward towards the door where the cold and empty darkness grew with each step he took. Once he was inside, he turned to look back the other way and saw that the door had already closed shut. He looked back in front of him and was shocked to find the largest library he had even seen before. Rows upon rows of thousands of books littered each and every shelf that went down great hallways towards more sections of book shelves. Hanged on the walls were large paintings of various images of different planets, landscapes, more of the creatures that he had seen on the door, and even one of an entire galaxy.

"_**I see you are fascinated with the library."**_

Issei jerked his body in fright and looked to his left and saw that the armored human was leaning on one of the nearby book shelves with his arms crossed and his mask's eye holes staring at him. Issei took a few breathes to compose himself before speaking to the human.

"U-Um… yeah, it's… very big. Bigger than any library I've ever been to before." He said in a nervous voice before once again looking around the room and back at the human. "Um… if you don't mind me asking… what exactly is this place?" he asked

The armored figure simply stared at him for a while longer before uncrossing his arms and pushing himself off of the shelf. He walked over to stand next to Issei and moved his hand in the air in a waving motion, directing Issei's attention towards the entire library.

"_**This is the ancient library of Hermaeus Mora, the god of Knowledge and Memory. Each and every book that resides within this library contains ancient and forbidden knowledge of the entire universe. Everything that you would have thought to never exist can be found within this library. This place however, cannot be accessed by anyone except you." **_

To say that Issei was shocked would've been the understatement of his entire life. An entire library filled with unlimited, yet forbidden, information about the entire universe that was accessible to nobody else except for him? He didn't know whether to be happy or afraid.

"No one can get in it except for me?" he asked with wide eyes. "But why is it forbidden? And why am I the only one who can get in? I'm nobody special." He said as he looked down at the floor in sadness.

The human put an armored hand on Issei's shoulder, slightly scaring him a bit. _**"That is not true, young one. You are indeed a very special person. And you were given access to this library for a reason. The reason being, is that you have potential. And not just potential, but a great power within you that you have yet to discover. And that is why I am here. To help you unlock that power."**_

Issei stared up at the man with a complete gob smacked expression. He had some sort of hidden power that was locked within him this entire time and he never knew it? And this man was offering to help him? Before he could ask another question, the man spoke again.

"_**And as for the reason why it is forbidden is because any mortal who would so much as glance inside one of these books would've been rendered completely insane, and were forced to stay here for all eternity. But don't worry about that. As I have said before, no harm will come to you here. And as for why you are the only one who has access to the library, is because it lies within your head. And no, I do not mean you are imagining it. I am literally saying that is located deep within your head. In your mind."**_

Issei once again paralyzed with shock. This entire library filled with forbidden knowledge that would've derived anyone else insane, was inside of his head? "B-But how is that even possible!?" he shouted. "How is it that I had an entire god's library, along with a guy in armor and some mysterious power, stuck inside my head the whole time without ever knowing it!? It doesn't make any sense!"

The man once aging put his armored hand on Issei's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Once he saw that Issei had taken a couple of deep breaths, he continued speaking. _**"I know that you are confused, young one. And I will do my best to explain. Please follow me." **_He said before he started walking down a nearby hallway, with Issei following close behind him.

The two walked the through seemingly endless halls of the great library. Occasionally taking one or two turns into different hallways. It greatly amazed Issei at how large the inside of the library was. To him it felt like an endless maze that you could walk through forever, and every wall and corner that you saw would be made of dozens of books. To think that all of the books stored here contained endless information about everything within the universe that was forbidden to everyone except for him just made even more exciting for him.

After about ten minutes of nonstop walking through Issei's self-proclaimed "endless maze of books", the two stopped in front of one of the large book shelves, where the man walked forward a plucked out a book with a black cover from the shelf. He opened it and began turning numerous pages left and right until he stopped on a random page, turned to Issei and handed him the book, where he took it in his hands and was able to see a small picture of a hideous-looking monster that looked like a big blob made up of nothing but tentacles, eyeballs, and mouths. Issei looked back up at the man with a questioning glance and was about to ask him what the creature was until the man crossed his arm and spoke.

"_**The image of the creature you see there is an immense being, as well as a god known as Azathoth. He is a being of colossal size as well as a deity of power unlike anything that has ever existed and is said to originate from the center of the entire universe. He is also known as an Outer God, as well as a Great Old One. He is the direct ancestor of numerous Great Old Ones and is the sole creator of all the Elder Gods, as well as the numerous races that descend from the Elder Gods. He is so powerful that not even the Gods of the entire Earth could hope to defeat him. Even with their powers combined into one, it still wouldn't be anywhere near enough to match up to a quarter of Azathoth's power."**_

Issei stood frozen in his place with the book still held tightly within his grasp. He stared up at the man in slight fear before looking Baca down at the image of Azathoth. This creature was that powerful that it could easily defeat all of the Gods of Earth, who were said to also be unbelievably powerful from what he studied in school, like they were nothing?

"B-But I still don't understand how this answers any of my questions" said Issei as her nervously looked back up at the man in front of him.

"_**Remember when I said that you had a special power locked inside of you?" **_he asked Issei, who nodded in response. _**"Do you remember anything when you were first born?" **_

Issei looked surprised by the sudden question before sadly shaking his head. "Sorry. I don't remember anything at all."

"_**It was to be expected. But the reason why you have that special power in the first place is because Azathoth was the one who gave it to you the very moment you were born. Your locked power is actually a portion of his own power that he transferred over to you. And because that it came from Azathoth himself, that portion is actually more than enough to rival the power of the Gods of the Earth themselves. Maybe even greater. And the reason why he chose you to wield it was because he also saw great potential in you." **_

Issei look like he was about to faint. He was actually surprised he was still holding on to the book at this point. He didn't understand any of this anymore. A god from space had chosen him to wield his power, and put it inside his body when he wasn't even a day old?

He didn't know what to do. He dropped the book on to the floor and staggered backwards while hyperventilating. He felt as if the entire room was spinning and the walls were closing in. He was sweating bullets and tears were coming out of his eyes. He grabbed his head in a tight grip and frantically looked around the room in panic.

"B-But it still doesn't make any sense! Why me!? Why is it always me!? Why is it that some alien god chose me to keep his power when he could've just as easily chosen someone else to do it!? I can't do it! I can't do any of it! I'm always alone, I can't ever defend myself when the other kids beat me up, and four years ago I was…I was…AHH! I don't have anyone else! My parents are the only one I can trust! They're the only ones who love and support me! If I lost them… I-I don't know what I'd do!" he yelled into the air as his tears started streaming down his face.

It was true though. He had no friends and no other people that he could rely on except for his parents. They meant the world to him and if he ever had lost them, he'd probably go insane.

"_**Weren't you the one who said he wanted to be stronger?"**_

Issei brought his head out of his hands and saw the man staring at him with his arms crossed. "W-What?" he asked.

"_**Earlier today while you were laying on the ground beaten and bruised, didn't you say that you wanted to get stronger so you could teach those brats a lesson? To search for that pitiful excuse of a human being that you called a teacher and make him pay for molesting you all those years ago?"**_

Issei widened his teary eyes before blushing in embarrassment and quickly looking away. "W-Well, u-umm…yes?" he admitted.

"_**Well you're not going to be doing it anytime soon without training now, are you?"**_

"What are you talking ab-"

"_**I mean just as I speak, child. You have no fighting experience whatsoever. And there is no way you are going to win in a real fight without any sort of training. Fortunately for you, I just so happen to be a master in the art of combat and am offering to teach you a few things so you will be able to defend yourself in the future. But first…"**_

The armored man suddenly brought up one of his hands where it began to shine a bright gold color. Before Issei could ask what he was doing, a golden aura suddenly surrounded his entire body for a few seconds before it completely disappeared into thin air. He looked back up at the man and noticed that his hand was no longer glowing and was back to being crossed over his chest.

"Umm… what did you just do?" he asked him in confusion.

"_**Just a little gift that should help you out in the future. I now made it so that your skin will heal at a faster rate, along with making it more resistant to any injuries you may receive. You could get stabbed with a knife and it would only be the equivalent of a small paper cut." **_

Issei widened his eyes in complete shock at the information. Getting stabbed by a knife and only receiving a paper cut in return? _I think I'm going to like these new powers_ he thought to himself.

Suddenly the entire library shook for a second before it completely stopped. Blinking his eyes in confusion, Issei looked at the man, who was looking up in the other direction.

"_**I believe the time has come for you to return to your body." **_He said as he uncrossed his arms and looked back at Issei.

"W-Wait! What about my training?" he frantically asked.

"_**I was getting to that. Hold out your left hand."**_

Confused at this sudden request, Issei slowly held out his left hand towards the man, who in turn, lifted his right hand over Issei's. They stayed like this for a few moments and Issei was about to ask what he was doing until his left hand suddenly started glowing a dark green color. Issei widened his eyes as his hand continued to glow and began to feel a strange feeling that was emanating throughout his entire body. Suddenly the glow on his hand faded and Issei looked to see a strange symbol that was now on top of his hand. It took the appearance of a simple drawer out version of the sun except the sun's rays were replaced with black tentacles that were twisting from left to right. The sphere that was in the middle of the tentacles was also colored black.

Confused with the strange symbol, Issei looked back up at the man for an answer before he started speaking.

"_**That mark is a representation of the Xalma Star, which is a black sun located within the galaxy of the Great Old Ones. Tomorrow we will practice using some of your new abilities that you have gained through Azathoth's power. Since the power is so large, we will need to unlock it in separate stages one at a time, so that you won't destroy your body by unleashing it all at once." **_

Before Issei could say anything else, his entire body started becoming transparent, as if he was slowly fading away.

"_**I'm sorry, young one. But now is the time for you to leave. And don't worry, we will speak to each other again very soon. Until then, farewell Issei Hyoudou." **_

Seeing that he was about to disappear, Issei suddenly asked the man one more question. "Wait! I never got your name!"

The man gave a slight pause before answering. _**"You may call me…Miraak." **_

With that said, Issei Hyoudou completely faded away from the library, leaving the newly named Miraak alone with his thoughts. _**It seems Azathoth was correct. **_He said to himself in his thoughts. _**You certainly are an interesting human, Issei Hyoudou.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: That's right everybody! Miraak, the very first Dragonborn from the last Skyrim DLC will be joining Issei on his journey to greatness along with several other companions! But if you wanna find out who they are, then you'll just have to wait and see! I'm planning on making this story as long as possible so you'll have to wait a while before finding out. But until then, please keep reading and I hope you enjoy it!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The power within**

_**Issei's bedroom, five hours later**_

The morning sun glared harshly through Issei's bedroom window as he struggled to stay asleep. Issei quickly turned to his side and covered his head with the blankets as the sun's bright rays shined right through his eyelids. He was too busy having the best sleep after his weekly beating yesterday and he had no desire to get up.

'_RRRRRRRRRRRR'_

But unfortunately his stomach thought otherwise. With a low grumble, Issei threw the blankets off of his entire body while grabbing the towel off of his head and rubbed his tired eyes open.

_Man that was one weird dream last night_ he thought to himself as he remembered the events that transpired last night.

_**(It was no dream Issei)**_

Issei literally jumped a foot off of his bed and frantically looked around the room while his heart was beating a mile a minute, trying to locate the sudden deep and echoing voice that came out of nowhere. "W-Who's there!?" he fearfully yelled.

_**(Issei, it's me, Miraak.)**_ the chilling voice, now known as Miraak said.

Issei widened his eyes at the familiar name. "M-Miraak? That was you? Where are you?"

_**(Within your mind Issei. I was able to create a telepathic link so that I can speak to you without anyone else hearing. And you don't need to talk out loud just to speak to me. Just think of what you wish to say and I will hear it.)**_

Issei contemplated the idea for a moment before testing it out. _'Like this?'_ he asked in his thoughts.

_**(Very good Issei. And before you ask, no, what transpired last night was not at all a dream. We really did meet within your subconscious. And in case you have forgotten, we are going to sound the entire day training you with your new abilities. Is there a nearby location where you will be completely alone without any watchful eyes?)**_

Issei kept his eyes widened throughout Miraak's entire speech, suddenly remembering about his inner powers before answering his question. _'Y-Yeah, there is! There's a huge forest that's right behind my house!"_

_**(Perfect. Dress yourself and get some necessary nourishment before going out. We are going to be training for the entire day so make sure you get enough to eat. And make sure you aren't followed.)**_

Issei gave a quick nod before running over to his closet and picking out a pair of clothes. Since it was a sunny day today, he decided to wear a white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts before heading downstairs, where he happily greeted his parents a good morning before scarfing down two bowls of cereal and a glass of water. He informed his parents that he was going to be hanging out in the forest behind their house for a while and after a couple minutes of reassuring his parents that his injuries were healed and that he was fine, they finally agreed to let him go and he bolted out the door and into the nearby forest where he ran for about ten minutes, occasionally looking back behind him to make sure he wasn't follow before stopping in the middle of a large field that was free of any surrounding trees.

'_Alright Miraak, I'm here and no one has followed me. Now what?' _he asked.

_**(Excellent Issei. Remember that mark I placed on the top of your left hand?) **_Issei thought a silent 'yes'. _**(I need you to activate it for me. To do that, all you have to do is imagine your inner energy flowing throughout your entire body and try directing it towards your left hand. Imagine the mark glowing to life as you redirect your energy. But make sure you concentrate hard.) **_

Slightly nervous, Issei slowly brought up his left arm and closed his eyes. He imagined a colored light that was flowing through his body like the blood in his veins and he imagined himself turning his inner valves in order to redirect the flow and focused it all into his left hand. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand, only to be slightly disappointed that it didn't work. He closed them again and tried re-imagining him turning the inner valves of his body. With his eyes closed, he slowly reared back his hand before quickly thrusting it forward. He suddenly began feeling a weird, vibrating sensation on his hand and opened his eyes to see the mark was now fully glowing a bright green. He brought it closer to his face and was able to see the outlines of the tentacles as well as the sphere of the sun. After about a minute of examining the mark, Issei tapped into his mind and spoke. _'Hey Miraak, I got the mark working. What do I do now?' _

_**(Good job Issei. We will now be working with all of the mark's abilities. The first is known as Blink. It's an ability that gives you the power of short ranged teleportation. To do this, all you need to do is set your hand into a fist and direct your eyes to wear you want to teleport before releasing your fist. Be warned that this ability is quite fast and might knock you off your feet the first few tries and will take some time to get used to. So make sure you are ready before using it.) **_

Issei took a deep breath before looking straight ahead about ten feet in front of him before squeezing his marked hand into a fist. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise when a large, glowing green sphere suddenly appeared out of nowhere and directly on top the spot he was about to teleport to. He tried locating another place to teleport to but soon found out that no matter where he moved his eyes, the green sphere would follow close behind. Just when he was about to ask Miraak what it was, his voice interrupted him.

_**(That green sphere you are witnessing acts as a marker and will place itself on whatever or wherever it is you are wanting to teleport to.) **_

With a silent understanding nod, Issei focused his attention back to the spot ten feet in front of him, the green sphere placing itself there a second later. Issei once again took a deep breath and lifted his left hand. He gulped a nervous lump down his throat before releasing his fist.

_FWOOOOSH_

"AHH!" yelled Issei as he suddenly found himself right on top of the location he was staring at a falling flat on his chest right into the dirt. He coughed up a bit before shakily pushing himself up off the ground and deeply inhaling the fresh air with his hands on his knees. His heart racing inside of his chest.

_**(Are you alright Issei?) **_Asked Miraak.

Issei took a couple more deep breathes before composing himself. "Y-Yeah, *cough*, I'm fine."

_**(As I have said before, it will take some time to getting used to. Why don't you take a few minutes to teleport some more around the field, just to get the hang of it? But make sure you're ready before teleporting, so you don't end up falling over every time.)**_

Issei nodded once more before setting his feet into a steady position and once again making his hand into a fist. He looked straight ahead of him about another ten feet before releasing his hand and suddenly teleporting another ten feet in a matter of seconds. Luckily, he didn't fall over again but he did almost lose his balance. After setting himself up into another ready position, Issei once again blinked himself ahead another ten feet. He spent the next few minutes simply just teleporting back and forth around the entire field while getting the hang of his new ability. Once he felt he could handle himself, Issei stopped using his Blink and waited for Miraak to give out the next instructions.

_**(Very well done Issei. You have handled this much better than I thought you would. The next ability we will be training with is called Dark Vision. This lets you see objects and living things through walls, as well as their fields of vision. All you have to do is focus your energy into your eyes, then blink them once. This will provide an excellent tool when in stealthy situations.)**_

Issei nodded in understanding before concentrating on his inner energy to redirect it into his eyes. He felt the mark on his hand glow a brighter green and got the same sensation he had gotten in is hand only it was now in his eyes. With a steady breath, Issei blinked his eyes once and suddenly the whole world changed around him.

Instead of the bright sun and the glowing blue sky, all the colors of the world were now that of a dark green. Looking into the forest, Issei was able to see numerous birds and squirrels through the trees as well as small cones of light that were emanating from their eyes, which he quickly deduced were their fields of vision. He was also able to see a multitude of flowers from behind the tall grass within the field. Feeling satisfied with his newfound ability, Issei focused on his inner energy and once again blinked his eyes, successfully deactivating the Dark Vision and returning the world to its normal colors.

'_Okay Miraak, what's next?'_ Issei asked his inner guardian.

_**(Next will be an ability known as Bend Time. With this, you will literally have the power to freeze time all around you while you will still be able to freely move. This will be extremely useful when getting the drop on your enemy or for quick and easy escapes out of extreme situations. You will need to once again focus your energy into your left hand but instead of making a fist, you bring your hand up while it's open, and slowly bring it back down while closing it. Give it a try.) **_

Issei did as he was told and refocused the energy back into his hand. Once the sensation returned, he brought his open hand up into the air with his palm facing towards him. He then slowly brought his arm back down to his side while closing his hand, and the world was once again encased in a hue of dark green. Only this time, Issei could no longer feel the wind at his back and looked up to see a couple of birds that were frozen in midair. He also noticed a nearby squirm that was also frozen halfway up a tree. Giggling to himself in slight amusement, Issei repeated the same arm motion and reactivated time. The birds continuing to fly towards their destination while the squirrel climbed all the way to the top of the tree.

_**(The next ability you will learn might feel a little strange to you, Issei. It is known as Possession. This allows you to enter the mind of any living thing, be it human or animal, and take control of their bodies. Focus your energy into your palm while setting your hand halfway into a grabbing motion while aiming it towards the being you wish to possess. Once this is done, all you have to do is thrust your arm forward while lifting all of your fingers at once, as if you were shooting a fireball at them from your palm.)**_

Issei looked around the field to try to find anything worth possessing when he spotted a squirrel sitting on a nearby. With a steady breath, Issei raised his arm and focused his inner energy into his palm while setting his hand into a halfway grabbing motion. To his surprise, a small, green cloud materialized itself inside his palm while another one appeared around the squirrel's small head. Ready for anything, Issei reared his hand back, and with one last movement, swiftly trusted his arm forward.

_WOOOOOSH_

What he was not prepared for, however, was suddenly appearing right on top of the rock and looking down to see his hands completely covered in brown fur and about the size of a small pebble. He looked back and widened his now tiny eyes when he noticed he was now sporting a large, bushy tail that was coming out of his back, his legs and lower body also being completely covered in brown fur. Realization soon came to his tiny brain as he widened his tiny eyes in complete horror.

Issei was now a squirrel.

Large gasps of air started to withdraw from his tiny lungs as he was on the brink of panicking. _'Miraak, I don't like this anymore! How do I get out!?' _he yelled in fear to his inner tenant.

_**(Calm yourself, Issei. Just close your eyes while focusing on your inner energy and imagine yourself 'jumping out' of the body. It should only take a moment.)**_

Quickly calming himself, Issei closed his squirrel eyes and tried imagining his human body jumping out of the squirrels head. He suddenly felt a slight push before he was able to feel the wind on his body once more. He opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer on the rock, but standing right next to it within his own human body, while the squirrel next to him gave a few shakes of its head more running off into the forest. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Issei quickly gave himself a check over to make sure he didn't inherit any fur or tails before stretching his human limbs and continued waiting for Miraak to give out the next instructions.

_**(The next is one that I personally added myself. It is known as Hermaeus Rift, and is the most frightening of your mark's abilities. It allows you to summon a large mass of tentacles that will rise out of the ground, grab your enemies, and bring them into the black mass they are summoned from and will swallow them whole into oblivion. The most useful trait for this ability is that the more power you charge into it, the more tentacles the rise out of the mass as along with larger sizes. To do this, you will need to open your hand with your palm facing towards the sky and slowly bring it up into the air. As if you're literally rising something from out of the ground without physically touching it. And to cancel it, simply push the palm of your hand towards the ground, as if you were forcing it back into the earth.)**_

Issei, now a little nervous after Miraak's description of the ability, merely gave off a slow nod before activating his mark and slowly lifting his hand up into the air. As if on cue, a large hole filled with a mysterious black liquid suddenly appeared into the ground. Almost immediately, seven ugly green tentacles that appeared to be five feet in length and covered in black slime, shot out of the ground and violently thrashed in all directions, as if looking for the closest living being to drag within the black hole. Feeling sick at the mere sight of the tentacles, Issei brought up his arm and pushed the palm of his hand towards the ground, where the tentacles retreated back into the hole and dematerialized out of existence, leaving nothing but a large crater in the dirt where the hole recently was.

_**(It may look grotesque, but it is extremely useful when dealing with multiple enemies at once.) **_Miraak spoke, trying to calm Issei's sick feeling. _**(Alright Issei, the last ability you will be using is known as Conjuration. This allows you to summon any of races belonging to the Elder Gods as using them to either fight for you or alongside you. To do this, all you need to do is think of the race you want to summon and charge a ball of energy within the palm of your hand. Once fully charged, shoot at the ground nearby where the creature of your choice will materialize out of thin air. We will be studying the different races another time since you have no knowledge of any, but for this experiment, I will give you the name of one race. **_

Issei listened as Miraak whispered a name within his mind, momentarily furrowing his brow in confusion before shrugging and activating his mark. He focused his energy into the palm of his left hand and kept it there for a few moments before a small, dark green ball of pure light was swirling in his hand. He then focused his attention on a spot about five feet in front of him before throwing the glowing sphere like a baseball. It impacted the ground and exploded into a small, swirling portal that momentarily blinded easy due to the brightness. Once the brightness had settled Issei looked on ahead and dropped his jaw in complete shock at what he saw.

Standing not more than ten feet away from him was what looked like the skeleton of some sort of canine that was completely see through, as if all the bones were made entirely out of glass. It was standing on all fours, which consisted of razor-sharp glass claws with a tail nowhere present on its body. But the most frightening aspect about it was that instead of the skull of a normal canine, it looked like it contained the skull of a small dragon. Bearing a large haw filled with rows of glass teeth, along with two, foot-long horns that carved upward on top of its head. Issei also saw that the skull contained no eye holes.

Before he could even attempt to ask Miraak what the thing even was, his voice once again stopped him from doing so.

_**(The Hounds of Tindalos. Immortal and endlessly blood-thirsty creatures that are capable of draining a body entirely clean of all its fluids with a single bite of its jaw. They have speeds that are invisible to the naked eye and teeth and claws that can rip through the strongest steel with one swipe. Terrifying alone, nightmarish in packs. You should be thankful they are on your side, Issei. Nobody has ever been within a hundred feet of a single hound and has lived to tell the tale.)**_

Issei gulped nervously, not at all calmed by Miraak's reassurance as he continued to stare at the skeletal hound, who was busy sniffing the ground with its large, glass snout. This thing was supposed to be that dangerous? Granted, it did look quite terrifying, especially since Miraak said they usually hunted in packs, but killing a person in just one bite or ripping through the world's strongest metal with just one swipe of its claw? Issei guessed that he would just have to find out for himself.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the glass hound took notice of him and slowly crept towards his position. Nervousness was soon replaced with fear as Issei stood rooted into his spot and not even attempting to make a run for, fearing that the hound would quickly catch up to him and kill him. With nothing left to do, Issei decided to stay frozen in his spot, not daring to move a single muscle as the hound came closer. Once it was about a few inches away from Issei, it began walking around him in a full circle while sniffing him up and down, all while Issei had his arms to his side and his heart thumping wildly inside his chest, though he didn't know how the hound could even sniff him in the first place since he didn't see any holes within its nose. What happened next almost made Issei jump out of his skin.

The hound then started to rub its skeletal body on Issei's side while its head was rubbing up against his hand. Having no idea what to do in this situation, Issei slowly brought up his hand and started petting the hound on its glass head. This only prompted said hound to rub its head on his hand even more, and he didn't know why, but Issei was pretty sure that if the hound had lungs it would be purring like a cat at this point.

'_Wow. Even for a bloodthirsty, glass dog, these guys are actually pretty nice.'_ Thought Issei as he continued to pet the hound.

_**(Indeed.) **_Agreed Miraak. _**(Though they are wild and dangerous beasts, the Hounds of Tindalos are also known for taking well-care of their own kin, and since you are technically its master since you summoned it, that makes you part of their kin. I almost forgot to tell you, if you want to dispel the creatures that you summon, all you have to do is charge the energy within your mark and snap your fingers. They will dispel almost immediately.)**_

Nodding in conformation, Issei gave the glass hound one more pat on the head before charging his inner energy into his mark and snapping his fingers. He then watched as the hound suddenly disappeared within a glowing vortex which that closed up after a second, once again leaving Issei alone within the field, although slightly disappointed at losing a cool companion, which prompted him to ask his inner tenant a question.

'_Hey Miraak, can I summon anything else?' _

_**(Yes, but since you don't know any other species besides the hounds, I'm afraid they are all you are able to conjure at the moment. But don't fret. We will be studying the various species of the Elder Gods within the library as part of your training once the next task is complete. But we will discuss that another time. For now, I want you to continue training with your mark abilities for the rest of the day so you are able to get a better understanding of how they work. It will also give you extra time to develop your various combat capabilities and how to get the drop on your enemy if you are ever attacked in the future.) **_

For the rest of the afternoon, Issei spent hours of intense focus and concentration training in his newly acquired mark abilities. For hours he would spend Blinking from tree to tree while every once and a while, possessed a different type of animal that he would come across. He even attempted to possess and control a bird so that he could fly, only failed miserably and ended up plummeting his way to the ground. Thankfully he was able to get some sort of control over the bird's body and managed to safely land on the ground without injuring the bird, which took off like a speeding bullet after he left its body.

Issei had also fell into a fit of wild lighter when he used his Bend Time ability to quickly gather a bunch of squirrels he would find and stack them on top of each other while they were still frozen. He could barely even breathe when he continued the flow of time and joyfully watched as they all came toppling to the ground, quickly got on their feet and sprinting off into the forest. He had also attempted to play fetch with a Tindalos Hound but every time it tried to catch a stick in its mouth that Issei threw, it would always break in half due to the intense strength of its jaw. So instead of fetch, the two had just settled for laying in the grass and watching the sunset, with the hound laying its glass head in Issei's lap while he would occasionally pet its glass spine.

Issei had also managed to use Hermaeus Rift, only he had to immediately dematerialize it after one of the tentacles grabbed a nearby tree and literally pulled it out of the ground and sucking it up into the mass of black liquid. It's not that he didn't like the ability or anything, it's just that he would prefer it if the forest could actually manage to stay intact. He was just thankful that a person hadn't been walking within the tentacles' range.

While resting on the ground with his new companion sitting right beside him, Issei noticed that the sun was now at a full set. Covering his mouth with a quick yawn, Issei gave the hound right beside one last pat on the head before quickly dispelling him and making his way back to his house. And Issei could honestly say for the first time in a long while, that he was genuinely happy. Happy for meeting his first friend, and happy for finally gaining his own strength through a newly found power that he didn't even know he had.

* * *

><p>What Issei didn't know, however, was that he had been watched the entire time he was training with his mark.<p>

Hidden deep within the thick foliage of the large forest, standing on a nearby tree branch, was a well-endowed, seemingly terrifying, yet strikingly beautiful woman. She had long, pitch-black hair that reached all the way down to her knees with pale skin and pointed ears. On top of her head was what looked like some sort of Gothic bow. Her outfit also looked like it was consisted of Gothic proportions as well that was mostly open around her chest area, revealing a substantial amount of cleavage from her large breasts. But the most bizarre feature that this girl had was her deep black eyes that bored into Issei's retreating figure with absolutely no emption whatsoever. They were completely hollow of any sort of feeling, almost as if they were nothing but empty shells within her eye sockets.

Just like the three factions, she had also sensed the enormous energy that had fluctuated all over the entire world ten years ago. While she first hadn't paid any mind to it since the power she contained was far greater, she had recently been aware that the energy was continually growing and held some sort of feeling that was completely unknown to her. As if it seemingly came out of nowhere from some nonexistent place. It had intrigued her enough that she had set out from her home to try to locate the source of the growing energy, only to find that it was contained within the body of a ten year-old male child.

She gazed at him with her completely empty eyes as he spent hours using some sort of strange abilities. While she had already known about teleportation, possession, and conjuring, she was completely unfamiliar with how this child was somehow able to halt the flow of time, as well as summon strange looking creatures she had never seen before. This only seemed to increase her interest in him even further.

As soon as the sun had set itself onto the horizon, she continued watching as the child dispelled the glass creature walked back to wherever he came from. The child was interesting to her no less, but for some reason there was something about the power within him that seemed off-putting to her. It was dark, colossal, otherworldly, and she could detect a fair amount of evil within it as well.

"This child is strange" she said in a low, sultry, monotone voice. "He holds an enormous energy within him, yet it feels completely unfamiliar, even to myself. I should take care to monitor his progress."

With that, Ophis the Ouroborus Dragon, also known as the Infinite Dragon God made once last glance at the retreating child before disappearing in a swirl of black energy. The thoughts on the child that contained the otherworldly energy still fresh within her dark mind.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hermaeus' Library, Issei's inner subconscious, six hours later<strong>_

"So what did you want to talk to me about Miraak?" Issei asked his tenant in confusion as they both walked within the great halls of the library.

Once Issei had gotten home from his training with the mark, he was immediately assaulted by both of his parents, scolding him for being out so long without ever coming to check in while the searched his body for any injuries he may have gotten. It took some convincing, but after about ten minutes of repeatedly telling his parents that he was just out exploring and simply lost check of time, he was able to calm their nerves before settling down at the dinner table and eating a large meal with his parents. After that he had spent about two hours of watching some TV on the couch before informing his parents that he was going to bed. After a quick goodnight kiss on the head from his mother, Issei made his way up into his room where he comfortably settled into his bed and quickly falling asleep, only to surprisingly reappear within his inner library and being asked by Miraak to follow him while they conversed.

"**I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done with your first day of training Issei" **said Miraak with a sense of pride he walked alongside Issei through the library. **"You performed phenomenal in your use of the marker. I can already tell that you will soon be able to fully master it after a little more training." **

Issei was surprised by his tenant's sudden praise but grinned with happiness nonetheless. "Gee thanks Miraak! I couldn't have done it without you! You're the first friend I've ever made!" he said with enthusiasm.

Miraak chuckled behind his mask for a minute before his voice reverted back to seriously. **"While I am proud that you were able to control the mark Issei, I'm afraid that is not the reason why I brought you back here. Since you are now able to get a good understanding of the mark, I believe it is time we advance to phase two of your training." **

Issei looked momentarily stunned by this declaration before looking up at his tenant. "What's phase two?" he asked in confusion.

Instead of giving him a straight answer, Miraak only took a quick glance down at the boy before facing forward. **"You will see"** he said.

The two continued to walk through the long and narrow hallways of the library for some time before they suddenly came up upon a large door that contained more carvings of the weird monsters that Issei had seen on the first door last night. Miraak walked up to it and, with a light touch of his fingers, the door split down the middle and slowly opened, revealing a large square room that was filed with even more books on each of the walls, but what made this room more interesting than the library was that the books kept expanding upwards the dark shadows and looked as though they went on forever.

Issei looked around the room in general confusion before looking back up at Miraak. "I don't get it, what is this place?" he asked.

Miraak, for his part, only stood still and silently looked forward before looking back down at the boy beside him. **"Tell me, Issei. Have you ever heard of something known as the Multiverse Theory?" **

Issei, now even more confused at the question, simply shook his head, prompting Miraak to continue. **"One of the reasons why the Great Old Ones, namely Azathoth, are much more powerful than the Gods of your Earth is because they were able to perform a feat that none of the Gods of the Earth could ever hope to perform. Inter-dimensional and Universal travel. The Multiverse Theory states that there are an infinite number of universes that are parallel to each other within the same plain of existence. Azathoth was able to use the energy stored within black holes known as Singularities, where all physical laws cease to exist, to travel to different universes and dimensions, as well as bring anything from that universe into another. Do you understand what I am telling you so far?"**

Issei just stood there in his spot while the gears in his brain felt like they were having a meltdown. He honestly didn't understand half of what Miraak was trying to tell him. It all sounded like something you would learn in high school. Not something a ten year old would ever want to hear.

"**I'll take your silence as a no" **said Miraak as he sighed. **"Basically what I am trying to explain Issei, is that when Azathoth gave a portion of his power to you, he gave you many more powers than that of the mark. Some of those powers are ones that I have no experience in. That is why we need someone who does have the experience with those powers, so that they can train you into using them."**

Finally understanding what Miraak was trying to tell him, Issei gave him another questioning look. "But I still don't understand why we are in this large room filled with more books."

Miraak once again, gave off a slight chuckle before answering. **"This room, Issei, contains every book that holds the history of every universe that Azathoth himself has placed within this section of the library. If we are going to start phase two of your training, we will need to summon someone who has contained the powers that you will soon be using."**

Issei widened his eyes in total shock after learning he would gain new powers before excitedly asking "What new powers do I get?"

"**I believe it is known as **_**Blacklight.**_**"**

Before Issei could even ask what that was, Miraak suddenly walked forward towards the furthest wall of room and pulled out a black book with a strange, red symbol on the cover before opening the book to a random page and setting it on the floor. He stepped back and brought both of his hands together, where a large swirling sphere that glowed a dark purple manifested itself and aimed it at the ground. He then reared both of his arms back and shot out the large sphere directly at the book that was laying on the floor before a large, glowing portal that was the same color as the sphere appeared directly on top of the book. Within a matter of seconds, a large shadow suddenly came out of the portal before setting itself on the book, where the portal soon disappeared along with the book and the shadows slowly fading away, where Issei was able to spot a tall human figure standing where the book used to be.

The figure appeared to be a human male that was a couple inches over six feet tall. He was wearing a black leather jacket with two white stripes located on each sleeve on top of a grey sweatshirt on top of a white, buttoned up shirt. He was also wearing a pair of dark blue jeans along with brown dress shoes. Though Issei couldn't really tell because of the grey hood the man was wearing, he was able to tell that the man appeared to be in his late twenties with peach colored skin.

The man put one hand under his hood and on his forehead and slightly groaned due to his sudden disorientation. "Ugh… where the hell am I-" he suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and quickly shook his head free of the dizziness before looking forward and was surprised to see a guy dressed Ina long black robe on top of some weird golden armor and wearing a mask that looked like it had tentacles on it. He was more surprised to see a little boy with brown hair wearing a t-shirt and shorts standing next to the armored man. Narrowing his eyes, the man sent a suspicious glare towards the two before speaking.

"Who the hell are you two?" he asked in a low, threatening tone. He did a quick look over at his surroundings before setting his eyes back on the two. "And where the hell am I?" he demanded, his threatening tone not once wavering.

Issei took a step back in slight fear from the man's tone of voice before Miraak gently placed his hand on his shoulder before taking a step forward.

"**Welcome back to the world of the living. **_**Alex Mercer."**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Virus within**

"**Welcome back to the land of the living. Alex Mercer"**

The newly named Alex Mercer, widened his eyes in shock as the armored man spoke his name. As far as he knew, this didn't look anything like hell or any other version of the afterlife. In fact, it looked like some sort of huge library. And that armored guy sure didn't look anything like the devil. Plus there was a ten year old boy that was standing right next to him so there was no way this could have been hell. But Alex knew more than anyone else that looks can be _very_ deceiving.

With a snarl and a glare that could burn through steel, Alex raised both of his arms where they were suddenly surrounded by a swirling mass of red and black tendrils. The tendrils on his right arm extended and became longer until they took the form of a long, four foot steel blade with red and black veins growing out of the center and connecting to Alex's right shoulder. The tendrils on his left arm swirled more around his hand and extended his fingers where it was soon replaced by a large claw, with each of the fingers now being a foot long steel blade. Black and red tendril veins were also coming out of the center of the claw and connected all the way up to Alex's left shoulder.

"I'm not going to ask you again" he said dangerously as he pointed the four foot blade at the duo in front of him. "Where the **hell** am I and who the _**hell**_ are you two?"

Issei was now fully trembling and took shelter behind Miraak as he stared with wide and shocked eyes at the man's sudden shape shifting. How was he able to turn his arms into giant blades and claws? Was this the new power that Miraak said he was going to learn? And did that mean that _**this guy**_ was supposed to teach him? This random guy who looked like he could rip an entire army to pieces? Issei was silently praying that that wouldn't be the case.

"**Please calm yourself Alex Mercer"** Issei heard Miraak speak in front of him while he lifted his hand in a calming gesture towards Alex. **"We mean you no harm. I merely brought you back from the dead so you could help us." **

Alex however, didn't buy it and continued to glare at the two, now more specifically at the armored man, while he keeping his blade pointed towards them. "And why should I believe anything you say? How do I know there isn't some blood red face with pointed ears and horns grinning bloody-murder at me behind that mask of yours, just waiting for me to drop my guard so you can rip my soul out of my body? And just how do you know I'm even dead in the first place?" he asked with a low growl.

Using his super enhanced hearing, Alex was able to hear what sounded like a scoff from behind the man's mask, which in return only made Alex glare harder. **"I can assure you Mr. Mercer that I am not a devil, no will I ever be one of those vile and despicable creatures. And I know that you are dead because you were slain by another who contained the same virus as you do. The one know as **_**James Heller.**_**" **

Now Alex's eyes were fully widened in complete shock. How had he known about that? The last thing he remembered was Heller ripping both of his arms off before using his claws to rip him to shreds and consuming his body. The rest was just complete and utter darkness before he somehow ended up here in a giant room surrounded by books while standing in front of this weird armored guy and a kid he had never seen before.

"**I also know about the Blacklight virus and how you were the cause of the first and second outbreak. Along with Gentek, Blackwatch, Elizabeth Greene, PARIAH, the Evolved, your sister Dana, and you murdering James Heller's wife along while kidnapping his only daughter to turn her into one of your Evolved in order to, in your own words, 'Become the Mother of the New World'." **

By now, Alex was completely hob smacked as the man finished listing each and every one of the situations her had been in, and he remembered them all as clear as day. When he first broke the vial the contained the virus in the middle of Penn Station while being shot at by a dozen Blackwatch soldiers, effectively turning him into what he was now, how Elizabeth Greene turned into that giant monster and almost wrecked half of New York Square if it wasn't for him ripping her to shreds, how he used the Whitelight cure in order to build himself an army of Evolved and turn the world into something new, and of course, being murdered and consumed by Heller. Oh yes, he remembered them all.

Very slowly, Alex lowered his laden arm down to the ground but still kept his arms transformed. He was no longer glaring but still had his eyes narrowed in strict suspicion. "Just who the hell are you?" he finally asked, getting annoyed by having to repeat the question.

Even though Alex couldn't see it, Miraak smiled behind his mask.** "I am known as Miraak. And I am the guardian of Hermaeus Mora's library, which is the place you are currently in, and not located within any of the three plains of the afterlife. As for the reason why you are here, it is as I have stated before. I brought you back so that you could help us."**

"Oh yeah?" Alex asked as he continued to glare at the man named Miraak. "And what exactly am I supposed to _'help' _you with?"

Instead of answering, Miraak took a single step to the side to reveal the brown haired kid that had been hiding behind him, which momentarily surprised Alex, he had been so focused on getting answers out of Miraak that he had completely forgotten about the kid. Before Alex could ask, Miraak decided to explain.

"**This boy's name is Issei Hyoudou" **he said pointing at the kid, who was slightly trembling under Alex's dark gaze. **"You see Mr. Mercer, this boy holds a great power within him. Far greater than the Blacklight virus and my own power combined. He was bestowed the power during his birth by a god known as Azathoth. By receiving this power, he was also able to gain numerous abilities that far exceed anything you and I have ever seen before. With enough training and concentration, he would be strong enough to match, or even surpass the power of a god. It just so happens that one of the abilities he had gained was that exact same as that of the Blacklight virus that you hold within you. But to master it, he needs training. I would do it myself, except I do not have any knowledge of the ability. That is why I have brought you back from the realm of the dead, so that you could hopefully train the boy in using his abilities." **

Alex gave a long, hard look at Miraak before settling his eyes back on the kid known as Issei Hyoudou, who continued to fidget under the man's dark gaze, which only made Alex scoff in disbelief. This kid was supposed to have the power to surpass a god? He barely looked like he could hold himself in a fist fight with another kid his own age, let alone have the ability to match a god. The whole thing sounded like some wild fairy tale anyway. Sure he had his fair share of weird and unbelievable tales but this sounded like it was pulled straight out of some cheap comic book found in a gaming store. It all sounded too farfetched.

Still, the weird armored guy in the octopus mask had somehow been able to bring him back from the brink of damnation. And that was something that had always been myth or a legend back in the real world. Except they would become crazy rotting, bat-shit insane zombies that would always end up tearing your skin off with their black and yellow teeth. And that was something he practically saw every day back in New York when the virus was unleashed. There wasn't a single alleyway in the entire city you could walk into and wouldn't see about ten, heavily-mutated civilians ripping a soldier limb from limb. Though he couldn't say he didn't do the same thing to a few soldiers AND infected with his blade and claws. A single day didn't go by when he wasn't spilling at least a hundred gallons of blood every two hours.

But the impossible seemed to happen as he was now here, standing in front of some knight from the middle ages and timid ten year-old, being asked to train the kid in the same powers he had that he apparently somehow gotten from a god that Alex had never even heard of when he wasn't even a day old. As crazy and unbelievable as it sounded, he suppose he didn't have much of a choice since he didn't really want to go back to being dead. Plus it might seem a bit interesting to learn what kind of world he just so happened to pop up in.

After a couple quick minutes of staring at the kid, Alex gave out a long sigh and a shake of his head before reverting his arms back to normal and putting them into his jean pockets. "I guess I don't have much of a choice do I? Hmph. Fine. I'll help the kid with his new powers. But I expect more answers when doing so. I'd at least like to know wherever the hell it is that I was brought to." he said in a deep and serious tone while narrowing his eyes back at Miraak.

"**Excellent. I will do as best as I can to inform you on everything about this world while you are training Issei. But I'm afraid there is one more thing that I request of you. In order for Issei to unlock his Blacklight abilities, he will need a portion of it in his blood so that it can be awakened. I am aware of how you were able to transform the people of your world into Evolved, and I will need you to do the exact same to Issei here."**

Alex lifted a single eyebrow at Miraak before asking "You want me to turn the kid into an Evolved? You sure he can handle it?"

Miraak gave him a firm nod. **"Believe me when I say that he has been through a tremendously painful past. So much that he is basically used to it by now. I have also given him something that makes his skin more reduced to injuries, as well as faster healing capabilities."**

Alex starred at him for a few seconds longer before giving off a single shrug of his shoulder. "Faire enough" he said before he began walking towards Issei, he quickly took a few steps back.

"W-Wait, I don't get it. What's he going to do?" he fearfully asked as he looked back up at Miraak for an answer, the latter simply just folded his arms while looking at Issei through his mask.

"**Calm yourself Issei, there is nothing to fear. All Mr. Mercer is going to do is help awaken your abilities, nothing more."**

"Yeah, what he said." Said Alex as he knelt down on one knee right in front of Issei and put a hand on his shoulder. His other arm suddenly began swirling in a mass of tendrils before his hand was replaced by a large claw. "Oh, and if what the knight of the round table over there said about your skin being more resistant and heeling faster, then this may or may not hurt like a bitch." And before Issei got even a chance to speak, Alex plunged the entire claw straight into Issei's chest.

"AAAAHHHHH!" screamed Issei at the top of his lungs and the sharp claws dug their way through the flesh of his chest. It felt as if over a thousand, piercing hot knives were literally digging into his entire body at once. It hurt so much just to breathe that he thought all of the oxygen was replaced with pure fire. Suddenly, the tendrils around the claw started burrowing their way into his open wounds. Deep with inside is chest, a black and reddish liquid came out from the tip of the claws blades and flowed into his veins and arteries along with his blood.

It must have felt like an eternity for Issei before tendrils disappeared and the claws were quickly ripped from his chest, the immense burning pain in his ribcage subsided within a second. Issei toppled over onto all for directly on the four and inhaled as much of the fresh and cool oxygen that his lungs could carry. Never in his entire life had Issei ever experienced that much pain in a single minute. It made all the beatings he got from the bullies feel like getting slapped with a feather.

As soon as Issei was done exhaling a mile a minute, he quickly shot up to his feet while glaring at both Alex and Miraak. "What the heck was that!?" he shouted at them.

"Hey, don't get pissed at me. I told you it was gonna hurt like a bitch." Alex said with an emotionless face before shrugging, as if the whole thing wasn't a big deal.

"You could've at least given me a longer heads up! Or actually tell me what you were gonna do!"

Alex gave him a slight glare in annoyance. "If I did you would've hightailed it out of here before I would even have a chance to move."

"Well who wouldn't!? You put a freaking CLAW in my chest!"

Alex now glared at him in anger. "You're really starting to piss me off kid." He said in a low growl.

Issei, who suddenly had his mouth shut because of Alex's glare and tone of voice, simple mumbled a silent 'sorry' before looking down at the ground.

"**Now now, we are not here to fight" **stated Miraak calmly as he got in between the two. **"Now that Issei has awakened his Blacklight abilities, we can begin with his training."** He said before looking down at Issei. **"Issei, when you wake up tomorrow I want you to go to the exact same place you went to yesterday. And make sure you aren't followed."**

Issei, still looking at the ground with his hands behind his back, gave a simple quiet nod and turned around to leave. But not before taking a quick moment to stop and glance back at Alex. "Sorry Mr. Alex" he said sadly.

Alex, for his part, softened his eyes underneath his hood for a fraction of a second before reverting back to his usual scowl. "Hmph, whatever kid." He said, though not in anger but in slight annoyance as he watched Issei disappear behind a large set of double doors.

"**He is a special child you know" **Said a nearby voice that snapped Alex out of his thoughts and glanced over to see Miraak staring at him through his mask with his arms crossed. **"He may not be the brightest, or the most intelligent. But he is special nonetheless, and has a kind heart. You would do well to treat him as such."**

Instead of glaring or growling in anger, Alex simply made a slight scoff before looking away and crossing his own arms. "Just because I agreed to help the kid doesn't mean I'll go soft on him. That's not my thing. And you still owe me answers so don't expect me to act all friendly towards you either. I'd still like to know where the hell I am." He grumbled before looking back at the door and setting his gaze into an emotionless one. "But I will admit, the kids' got guts. And you were right about his past. I mean it wasn't as fucked up as mine, but still pretty fucked up. If I was him I would've ripped that asshole of a teacher's jaw off and used it to beat those other kids into the cement."

Miraak raised a surprised eyebrow behind his mask. **"You witnessed his memories?" **he asked.

"Yep. One of the perks about the Backlight virus. Happened when I was feeding it to him. I've seen more fucked up shit than you could probably imagine, but I still don't like the idea of watching someone get molested through their own eyes."

Miraak nodded his head in agreement. **"Indeed. To have go through such a traumatic experience at such a young age is something no child should ever have to do." **

"We all have our skeletons in our closet Mir'. Some that are even worse than others. But we can't spend the rest of our lives living in fear. At one point or another, we'll all have to face our inner demons. Something I should've done when I was still alive, but unfortunately mine were too strong to control, and eventually turned me into one of them. Plus, the kid kinda reminds me of myself. Back when I was…" he said before he looked at the ground.

Because of the hood covering his face, Miraak wasn't able to see his expression or tell what he was feeling, but he sensed it was something along the lines of guilt, regret, and shame. **"Back when you were what, Alex Mercer?" **he asked.

Alex continued to silently stare at the ground for a few minutes before turning his head and looking back up at Miraak with a small frown. "When I was still human."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nearby forest located near Hyoudou Residence, six hours later<strong>_

Just as Miraak had instructed him, Issei had once again made his way towards the field that was located in the middle of the forest. After informing his parents that he would be out 'exploring' again and having to promise them that he'd be back by afternoon for lunch, he ate another quick breakfast before bolting out of the house and occasionally checking behind him to once again make sure that he wasn't followed. When he was far enough out of range, Issei had decided to take a shortcut and activated his mark where he Blinked on top of the nearby trees and teleported his whole way there. He also mentally debated on whether or not he should possess a bird and fly there but remembering what occurred the day before immediately squashed the thought and simple settled for just teleporting. Not that he hated it or anything.

As he reached the top of the last tree, Issei activated his mark and teleported to the middle of the field before doing a quick couple of warm-up stretches before starting his training. In all honesty, he was very excited to be learning even more cool new powers, especially ones that let you turn your arms into giant knives and claws. He couldn't wait to see what Alex had to teach him.

'_Alright Miraak I'm here. What's the first step?' _he mentally asked with hidden eagerness.

There was a few short minutes of silence before a deep voice penetrated his thoughts. _**[Hey kid, it's me Alex. Apparently your other friend in here was somehow able to get me a connection through your mind so I'll be telling you what to do from inside your head. And make sure you pay close attention 'cause I'm only going to explain this once.] **_

Issei was surprised at suddenly hearing Alex's voice from his subconscious before breaking out of his thought and focusing his attention back on Alex. _'Um… okay Mr. Alex. So what are we going to do first?' _he asked.

_**[First of all, it's just Alex so drop the formalities. Second thing is that I'm going to need to explain a few things from you. According to Sir Knight of the Round in here, since your so called, 'enormous amount of energy' has been mixed with the Blacklight virus, you technically already have all of its abilities so you won't need to consume people just to get them like I had to. So yeah, lucky you. Also not only does the Blacklight virus allow you to shape shift your body, but it also gives you permanent boosts in your strength and speed, as well as infinite stamina, permanent immunity to all diseases and poisons, and zero fall damage whatsoever. Basically you could jump off of a one hundred stories building and land feet-first into the found without a parachute and you wouldn't get a single scratch on you.]**_

It took Issei all of his willpower not to shriek and continuously jump in the air for joy after Alex had given his entire speech. Falling from a one hundred story building and surviving along with never getting sick? He had fallen in love with the virus already.

But while he was busy not trying to get excited, something that Alex had said early had put a question in Issei's head. _'Hey Alex? What did you mean by consume people? Does that mean that you ate them?' _

Issei wasn't sure but he could've sworn he heard growling inside of his head. _**[Ughhh, No! Shit why does everyone keep saying that!? I ABSORBED the biomass that was in their bodies and fused it with my own! So that I could heal and get more abilities! I mean seriously, what the fuck? Consume doesn't just mean eat you know!"]**_

"…"

_**[Anyway, let's just get this thing over with. Why don't you use some of that 'inner energy' I've heard about and use it to shape shift your arms into some kind of weapon. Like, I don't know, my blade arm for example. Try using your energy to control the tendrils to transform your arm into a blade.] **_

Issei, still slightly confused on what to do, simply gave off a nod in understanding before bringing up his arm and tried imagining his arm turning into a giant blade like he saw with Alex. At first nothing happened, and he was about to inform Alex that it didn't work until his arm was suddenly encased in a swirl of black tendrils. They sprouted and grew to about a length of four feet until his entire arm was replaced by a large blade that looked almost like a meat cleaver. And just like he had seen with Alex's blade, the upper part of his own blade was covered in a mass of large black and green veins that extend all the way up to his upper shoulder.

_**[Not bad kid. Looks almost like the one Heller had. Why don't you take for a test swing?]**_

Eager to test out his new weapon, Issei walked over to one of the nearby trees, extended his arm and turned it to the side where the sharp blade was facing toward the trunk of the tree. With a swift swing of his arm, Issei swiped the blade at the tree with intense force and widened his eyes in shock when the blade cut cleanly through the trunk of the thick tree, which toppled over to the ground in the opposite direction about a second later.

Issei for his part, simply stood frozen in his place until he let out a loud yelp of excitement and started jumping and dancing with joy written all over his face. "That was awesome!" he yelled as he continued jumping, only for a thought to appear in his head a minute later. _'Umm, Alex? How do I change my arm back?' _he asked his other tenant.

_**[Just do what you did before, only the opposite. Just use your energy to reverse the tendril growth and your arm will turn back to normal.]**_

Issei nodded and used the energy to direct the tendrils. A minute later, he sighed in relief as the tendrils slowly started to shrink back into his skin until he was left with his normal human arm.

_**[Now that you know how to shift your arms into weapons I won't need to explain the others. Now for some of the easy stuff. I want you to get down in a jumping position while building up the tendrils and charging them into your legs. Once you do that I'll tell you what to do next.] **_

Confused, Issei did as he was instructed and crouched his knees down into a jumping position as he started charging the tendrils into his feet. Once he felt that he was fully charged, he contacted Alex. _'Okay Alex I'm ready. What do I do now?' _

_**[Simple. Jump] **_

Once again confused, Issei gave off a slight shrug before complying with his request.

Until he was suddenly flung over twenty feet into the air.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed as began falling towards the ground. As the ground came closer, Issei shut his eyes tightly and brought his arms in front of him in a protective manner to brace for the impact. But all he felt was a light _'BUMP'_ throughout his entire body and a loud _'CRACK' _that rang all around him.

Very slowly, Issei opened his eyes and saw that he was laying on his side within a small hole of dirt. He shakily brought himself off the ground and widened his eyes when he saw that he had landed in a crater right in the middle of the field. _'What the heck happened? _He thought in wonder. _'This wasn't here before'_

_**[Idiot, you made that. Happened right after you fell from the sky.] **_Alex said from within his mind.

This only seemed to shock Issei even more. _'But how did I even do that in the first place?'_ he asked.

_**[Two more perks of the Backlight, jumping at high altitudes while taking no falling damage whatsoever. As I said before, you could fall from a hundred stories building and not even get a scratch.] **_

Issei's face practically lit up with excitement. _'That's pretty awesome!'_ he exclaimed.

_**[Yeah, no shit. Anyway kid, since you already got a basic idea of how the virus works I suggest you spend some time practicing with it. Go jump around, run like motherfucker, cut some trees down, I don't care. Just make sure you practice." **_

For the rest of the day, Issei spent some of his time doing practice swings with his blade while trying to see if he could reach farther heights with his super jumping. He was also surprised, yet excited to find out that he could use his tendrils to sprint at speeds equal to that of a racecar. Even though he had no need to run because of already having teleportation, he still found it extremely useful to have if for some reason he couldn't use his Blinking. He was also able to transform his hands into his own set of claws, which looked exactly the same as Alex's only the red veins that he had connecting to his shoulders were a dark green instead of red. And just like he promised his parents, Issei had made his way back to his house for a quick lunch before heading back out into the forest where he spent the rest of the day training with the virus as well as his mark.

The sun was once again in its setting state and Issei had to stifle a yawn as he just got done cutting another tree down with his blade. He had tried as hard as he could to restrain himself so he wouldn't cut that many trees down but it was just too fun! It wasn't every day you were infected with a virus that could turn your arms into giant knives. Luckily he was able to have some self-control and only ended cutting down about five trees.

With another stifled yawn, Issei transformed his arm back to normal and made his way back to his home, hoping to once again get another good night's rest.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Issei's subconscious, seven hours later <strong>_

"**I must say Issei, you never fail to impress me" **spoke Miraak with pride as he patted Issei on the shoulder.

"Hmph. It was only one day of practice. Not like he accomplished anything that important. But I guess you did good kid" said Alex with a smirk and his arms crossed.

Issei blushed a little at the sudden praise from his two tenants but soon changed it into a smile of gratitude. "Thanks guys"

"**And just think that in a matter of years, you will be as strong as any god of this world"**

"I still find it highly unlikely that he'll match up to the power of a god, but the kid will kick some ass, that's for sure." Said Alex.

"You bet I will! I can't wait to see the look on those other kids' faces when they see me now!" yelled Issei with half of a sadistic grin on his face, which suddenly morphed into an expression of fatigue as he took a long yawn before rubbing his eyes. "Well I'm beat. I think I'm going to go head back to bed guys, see ya." He said before he transmitted out of his mind.

The two remnants of Issei's mind stood there in silence and stared at the place Issei transmitted away from before Miraak looked back up at Alex.

"**It appears that we are not the only ones who reside within Issei's mind."**

Alex looked back up at Miraak in surprise before narrowing his eyes at him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"**While you were teaching Issei about the Backlight I was able to sense a faint energy source that came from deeper within Issei's mind. As I continued to monitoring it, I was not only able to deduce that it has a vast amount of energy, but that it has also resided within Issei's mind ever since he was born. It's strange how I was only able to locate it just now…"**

"Well, do you know exactly what who or what it is that's setting it off? And exactly where it is exactly?"

"**Judging from the large power scourge it is defiantly not human. It feels like it is more beast-like. Yet its power is very controlled. And as I have said before, it is located within the deeper levels of Issei's mind. Lucky for us, I happen to know exactly how to get there. Just follow me." **Miraak said as he started walking towards the back of the library.

With nothing else to do, Alex merely gave off a shrug and followed the inner knight through the long maze of endless bookshelves. After about ten minutes of walking, and finally to Alex's relief, they reached a large door that was in the far back of the library that contained even more carvings. When Miraak opened the door, they saw that there was nothing on the other side except an endless dark room that held a long flight of stairs that dropped down into the darkness below. The two occupants of Issei's mind looked at one another before giving each other a full nod and started descending down the stairs, ever to see what awaited below.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lower levels of Issei's subconscious <strong>_

"No fucking way, is that what I think it is?" asked Alex with disbelief written all over his face.

"**I believe it is Mr. Mercer. And I have to say it has been a long time since I have seen one of these." **

Neither men could honestly say they weren't shocked at seeing what resided within Issei's mind. Alex more so then Miraak. Said Prototype just shook his head in exasperation.

"And here I thought I've seen everything. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised anymore."

_**{So, you two are residents of my hosts' mind as well?} **_boomed a deep voice from in front of them. The lasted simply looked up and stared at the being in front of them.

"**Host?" **asked Miraak.

_**{The one known as Issei Hyoudou} **_

"So you've also been stuck inside the kid's head? And ever since he was born?" asked Alex.

_**{That is correct. I was the original source of the boy's power. Though it seems he has gained something else as well}**_

"**You are also correct. He has been bestowed upon the power of Azathoth, The Blind Idiot God. A power that he could easily use to match or surpass any god of this earth with enough training." **

_**{Surpass a God? He's that powerful?}**_

"**Indeed he is. And with your help, it his power could be even more." **

_**{Hmm… As fun as that may sound, I'm afraid it is not yet time to reveal myself to Issei. Until he reaches a certain age, I am forced to remain dormant within his mind.}**_

"**That is a shame indeed. I am sure that your power would have been a great asset in his training." **

The being gave off a low chuckle before speaking. _**{Don't worry, I know that Issei will do just fine without me. He is more special than any of the previous hosts I have had after all. And when the time comes that I may reveal myself, he'll be even more interesting. But until that time comes, I must remain here within his subconscious. So until we meet again, farewell tenants of Issei Hyoudou.} **_

And with that, the third being that occupied Issei Hyoudou's mind disappeared into the darkness, once again leaving the other two to silently stand in their places while contemplating with their own thoughts. It seems that Issei Hyoudou has gained even more power than originally intended, which means that he will be just as dangerous in the future as well. The two tenants of Issei's mind had no idea what would happen in the future, only that they seemed to share one common thought.

Gods help anyone who crossed the path of Issei Hyoudou.

With another long, exasperated sigh, Alex rubbed his forehead before looking back at Miraak, who had his arms crossed and seemed to be within his own thoughts.

"Things are going to get a lot a lot more fucked up from now on aren't they?" he asked. Miraak for his part, simply just stood with his arms crossed and continued to silently ponder his thoughts before staring at Alex through his mask.

"**Indeed. The future is definitely about to change. But for better or for worse, I cannot say. The only one who can create forge those paths are Issei Hyoudou himself. But either way, I sense that things are about to get a lot more interesting from now on."**


	5. Chapter 5

_**( ) = Miraak telekinetic speech **_

_**[ ] = Alex telekinetic speech **_

**Chapter Five: The Supernatural **

_**Center of the Universe, Space **_

The Blind Idiot God hummed its thousand mouths all at once in deep meditation as it floated within the center of its galaxy as well as the entire Universe. It had been many years since the Great Old One had siphoned off a portion of its power and sent it billions of light years through the endless vacuum and towards the human planet of Earth where it was soon transmitted into the newly born human boy. Ever since then, it had been monitoring the boy's progress and it could already sense the energy stored within him continuously growing. It seems that Miraak had been successful in training the boy to use his abilities. The God was momentarily surprised when it had been able to sense another faint energy source that had also been sealed within the boy, just as long as the God's own power had been sealed.

The God also knew that the Supernatural had taken notice of the boy's power and would soon try to get him to join their side, either by cooperation or by force. If it could, the God would have twitched its thousand mouths into that of a scoff. Like any of those creatures could ever make the boy do anything. He was far too powerful and would be more than able to wipe those pathetic beings off the face of the planter with just the blink of his eyes. Though the God did find them useless and weak, he couldn't exactly disagree that he wasn't interested in seeing which of the factions the boy would be joining. If he was even willing to join either side at all that is. But whether he did join or remained neutral didn't matter at all to the God. He was simply watching the boy to see how he would affect the outcome of the Earth's future. Even for all powerful Great Old One that was capable of traversing the plain of infinite universes and dimensions, he still was not able to predict the future. He had been to thousands upon thousands of universes, each and every one bearing someone of something that had peeked his interest and silently watched from a great distance how they affected the outcome of those universes. Occasionally adding in his own "help from the sidelines" as the people of Earth called it, just to make things more interesting.

He had actually been thankful that he couldn't predict the future like some Gods had in the other universes. To him it was only an annoyance. Being able to see what happens before it even occurs was something he had no interest in using. It was just something that would take all of the fun out of watching the different situations in the other realities. After all, what would be the point of watching them at all if you already knew what was going to happen?

Azathoth continued to silently float within the center of the Universe until he soon took notice of a large black mass of fog that seemed to materialize out of nowhere right next to him. Like the God, the fog only seemed to float out of its black center and disappearing into the void of space. It then started to slowly fade away until the mass of fog was fully replaced by a large, grotesque creature that was about a fourth of Azathoth's size. Its entire upper body was completely covered with what looked like large brown tree roots while its lower body was composed of pulsating black pustlues along with two colossal-sized eyeballs that were at the opposite ends of the creature's body and a large mouth filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Another mouth could be seen at its far left side under one of its large eyeballs. Tentacles that were covered in hair along with some that held claws at their ends could also be seen surrounding the lower half of the creature's body.

Azathoth set his thousand eyes on the creature with a vague look of surprise. Said creature, simply stared back at him with its own two eyes that held no sense of emotion.

"_**Ya suu t'at Ta ar mihn'ar li goff's pogurni, Lo'r Azathoth" (I see that you are monitoring the child's progress, Lord Azathoth).**_ The creature spoke in light, chilling voice that sounded vaguely feminine.

Azathoth continued to stare at the creature with his thousand dark eyes in silence before he started speaking.

"_**Sa ha be'n ah loo'n tolm, Shub-Niggurath"**__**(It has been a long time, Shub-Niggurath).**_

Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young or Lord of the Wood, gazed at Azathoth with her own set of black eyes as she floated alongside him within the center of the Universe. It had indeed been a very long time since she had spoken to her Master, much less seen him. He had always been busy occupying his time by traveling to the other infinite realities that she couldn't even remember the last time that had spoke, if she even had a memory in the deep and black abyss that was her mind. But she honestly couldn't blame him either. Being a Great Old One herself, she too had always been preoccupied, especially when it came to caring for her thousands of offspring.

"_**Indui'd ha be'n mu Lo'r. Hul de li liffle huma'ne?" (Indeed it has been my Lord. How is the little human?) **_Shub asked with a small hint of curiosity in her voice.

"_**Te de pogurni'ng wul. Sa se'ms Miraak ha d'ne h'is johb. Evn' afmar al tese e'ars, li bo de contumon ot gow sting'la." (He is progressing well. It seems that Miraak has done his job. Even after all these years, the boy is continuing to grow stronger.)**_

"_**Ye't, evn' froom E'art Ya con sti'l soon'se hum froom he'r. Te de a'n ingress'ing von indui'd." (Yes, even from Earth I can still sense him from here. He is an interesting one indeed.)**_ Shub agreed.

"_**Hm'mph, wa't a supri'se. Noover tough't Ta wuld sho' uny ingress un un'myty, Shub-Niggurath." (Hmph, what a surprise. Never thought you would show any interest in anything, Shub-Niggurath.)**_ Spoke a deep echoing voice from out of nowhere.

The two Great Old Ones turned to see another massive creature about the same size as Shub-Niggurath, except its body was a bright yellow and was composed entirely of out tentacles that floated lifelessly within space. Within a large dome on top of its body that was assumed to be its head, you could vaguely make out two blood-red eyes that peered through a thick sheet of tentacles.

As soon as she saw it, Shub twitched her eyes and mouths into that of large scowl. _**"Weh ar' ta does'ing har…Yog-Sothoth?" (What**_ _**are you doing here…Yog-Sothoth?) **_Shub spoke with anger and annoyance etching into her cold voice.

Yog-Sothoth, Lurker at the Threshold and grandson of Azathoth as well as former mate of Shub-Niggurath, made a deep grunt behind his tentacles into that of a scoff before speaking. _**"Li sam' reston Ta ar' Shub. Ot spo'ake fo li goff' t'at grund'fither ha's chwosen ot wuld hi's piw'r. Ta ar' neo't Li ony von'e ot sin'k ti." (The same reason you are Shub. To speak of the child that grandfather has chosen to wield his power. You are not the only one to sense it.) **_

If Shub had any, she would have raised an eyebrow at her former mate's statement. _**"Li oter Godda' hav' tooken n'tice fo li goff' az wul?" (The other gods have taken notice as well?) **_she asked.

Yog gave a slight nod of his tentacle-encased head. _**"Li oher Grek Ohm Vunes, az wul az li Eltero und Otero Godda' hav' al sin'ked li goff's piw'r. Lik' ta et grund'fither, li oher godda' hav' expos'ed an intro'most un him, whul ohers wush ot foot hum ot pro'ove tier strungth." (The other Great Old Ones, as well as the Elder and Outer Gods have all sensed the child's power. Like you and grandfather, the other gods have all expressed an interest in him while others wish to fight him to prove their strength.) **_

"_**Ta wul 'til t'hem tat li goff' de ot remooned unhimed." (You will tell them that the child is to remained unharmed) **_Azathoth interjected. _**"Te de no't rod'y ot fuse an Eltero Godda', nor de te unyver ner' rod'y ot fuse a Greek Ohm Vune." (He is not ready to face an Elder God. Nor is he anywhere near ready to face a Great Old One).**_He said and was about to speak again until he suddenly stopped all movement around his entire body for a few moments before he looked at the two other Old Ones. _**"Ah, ha se'ms li tome ha's comm'." (Ah, it seems the time has come.)**_

"_**Ha appe'ars os." (It appears so). **_Said Shub in agreement. _**"Li Ea'rt's sip'rnontra ar' fik'nolly makkin'g ther' mov." (The Earth's supernatural are finally making their move.)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kuoh Academy, City of Kyoto, seven years later<strong>_

The cold moist wind breezed through the morning air as the sun shined its rays all throughout the city. The adults drove their cars on the town's busy road ways, making their way towards their various jobs as the kids walked hand-in-hand with their parents towards their respective schools. It was a cool Monday morning and all over the local town, people could be seen going on with their weekly businesses with smiles on their faces, or the half-lidded look of fatigue that adorned their eyes after having to wake up early from their natural beauty sleep that they all so craved. Everything was as humanely normal as it could possibly get. Not a single thing or person seemed to be out of place in this seemingly normal city. All except for one in particular school that was located in one of the town's vast neighborhoods.

Kuoh Academy was (and still is) seen as one of the most prestigious high schools in all of Kyoto. It stood at a height of over three stories with a layer of thick brown surrounding its walls and numerous white columns that were spread all along its bottom half. On the left and right sides of the main building were two other separate parts of the school that were also of prestigious design. Behind the three buildings was a large field were the track and numerous courts were located where the students would spend their time playing their various activities and sports. In front of the school's main building was a well-built stone path that lead from inside the school to the front gate that was in the middle of a large brick wall that separated the nearby neighborhood from the academy's grounds.

Everywhere you looked, students could be seen happily walking from their respective homes, seemingly enjoying the bright early morning weather, and into the academy to start another week of their usual classes. Most of the students consisted of females, due to Kuoh Academy once being an all-girls school until it was recently transformed into co-ed, where the school's overall population quickly grew to about forty percent in the male department (most of which only attending because of the high female population).

Located at the front of the academy's main gate was a single male teen of average height and semi-large build. He had a full head of dark brown hair with bangs that reached down to his eyes and lightly tanned skin. He wore the customary Kuoh Academy uniform for males, which consisted of a black blazer with skinny sleeves that showed off a bit of his muscles underneath, on top of a white, buttoned up, collared short-sleeved shirt adorned with black vertical lines, which was on top of his own shirt that was blood-red, black slacks and a pair of black leather dress shoes.

The teen was currently observing the school's main building with his deep dark greenish purple eyes that were set into half-lids and a small toothy grin that was placed on his lips while partially showing a couple of razor sharp teeth that were on the inside of his mouth. _'So this is Kuoh Academy'_ the teen silently thought to himself with a small amount of curiosity. _'Not really what I was expecting. But I guess it's better than nothing.'_

_**(Don't let appearances cloud your judgment Issei)**_ spoke a deep voice from inside his mind. _**(Though this may seem like a normal human school, I sense a fair amount of supernatural anomalies here. Make sure to be on your guard) **_

_**[I agree with Sir Lancelot here, too kid] **_spoke another voice from within his mind. This one's tone sounding almost gravel. _**[This place reeks of some weird shit. Better get ready to make some heads roll in case shit hits the fan] **_

The teen continued grinning as he listened to his two inner tenants. _'Thanks for the advice Miraak, Alex. I'll be sure to keep my eyes open. And kick some ass if need be.' _

_**(That's the spirit Issei. And make sure you put all of that training to good use. I am eager to see how far you have advanced)**_ Miraak said with a hint of pride and eagerness in his voice.

_**[Yeah kid. We didn't waste seven years of our lives just to see you fuck up on your first try] **_spoke Alex with his usual tone of annoyance.

'_Heh. Don't worry Alex. I'm not the one who'll end up dead if anything happens. You can count on that.' _He assured his tenant. Just when he was about to speak again, the sound of the school's morning bell rung throughout the entire campus. Signaling the beginning of class. _'Well, it looks like school's starting. I'll talk to you guys later__**.' **_

_**(Be careful Issei) **_said Miraak.

_**[Give 'em hell kid] **_said Alex.

With a grin still plastering his lips, Issei stepped through the front gate and into the school's courtyard. Any remaining students that did not yet enter the academy stopped dead in their tracks and stared wide eyed at the new student who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and in the middle of the school year no less. The girls stared at him as he walked by and quickly looked away while giggling madly with blushes on their faces at the sight of the handsome muscled boy while the guys looked at him with questioning glances and a few angry glares of jealously.

"Hey, who is that guy?"

"Is he a new student?"

"He looks kind of creepy. Especially with those weird eyes, and that crazy grin."

"Are you serious? He's freaking hot! Just look at those arms!"

"I just hope he's not a pervert like those other two idiots."

Issei ignored the various whispers coming from the other students and made his way inside of the main building where even more students stopped and turned to look at him while whispering to each other. Continuing to ignore them, he stopped in the middle of a hallway to reach into his pocket and pull out his class schedule. With a quick look at the paper, Issei glanced in all directions before putting his schedule back into his pocket before continuing to walk down the hallway.

He failed to notice that from above the second floor stairs he was being watched by a girl who looked to be about a year older than him with long blood-red hair that reached down to her thighs and an amply shaped hourglass figure that was covered by a Kuoh Academy girl's uniform. Her emerald green eyes narrowed as she watched Issei walk towards his class, which soon softened as a smile made its way on to her lips.

'_So this is our new student that I've been hearing so much about. Strange… his aura seems so mysterious. Yet I can sense something else entirely different within him. Something... dark, yet not entirely evil. I should definitely tell Sona about him. In the meantime, I'll be watching you Issei Hyoudou.'_

* * *

><p><em>KNOCK KNOCK<em>

The teacher paused in his early attendance taking as he walked towards the classroom door, opened it and smiled as he saw who was on the other side. He turned his attention towards the students, who had confused expressions on their faces.

"Class, we are going to be having a new student joining us today. So I want you all to remain quiet and respectfully behave as he introduces himself." The teacher then brought his attention back at the door. "You can come in now."

With a toothy grin, Issei hooded at the teacher and entered the classroom. As soon as he did, all the students quietly whispered amongst themselves. The girls, like in the hallway, began blushing up a storm at the sight of the handsome new teen, while most of the guys sent him angry and jealous glares. Issei however completely ignored their various reactions as he took a piece of chalk and wrote his name up on the classroom board. He then turned around and addressed himself to the entire class.

"Hello everybody, my name is Issei Hyoudou. I'm very excited to be a part of this school so I hope we can be friends." He said as he took a polite bow with the grin still on his face.

After hearing his soft spoken voice, all the girls began giggling and blushing even harder while the guys gained slightly nervous looks on their faces. Even though his voice sounded sincere, there was just something in it that unnerved them. And that weird grin that he had only made it worse. The teacher however, didn't seem to notice as he only smiled after Issei introduced himself.

"That was very well done Issei. Now, why don't you go take a seat in the free desk we have near the back."

Issei nodded to his teacher and walked towards the back of the classroom where he took a seat at free desk near the window. As the teacher resumed taking attendance, Issei took this time to look outside and reflect on past events. After he had finished his training with Alex and Miraak, Issei was once again confronted by the three bullies who had beat the hell out of him for most of his childhood. He was on his way home from school when the three boys had jumped him in a secluded spot from behind the building. Thinking he was still just a weak little kid, the three idiots actually had the nerve to try to hold him down and endlessly kick him again.

Issei couldn't keep the giddy smile off of his face as he remembered the shocked looks the three boys had on their faces when he suddenly grabbed one of them by the collar and threw them him into the wall, completely knocking him unconscious. He then delivered a quick uppercut to the second boy's jaw which in turn cracked and even broke a couple of his teeth while flying about five feet up into the air and landing on his back, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. The third boy, which was the leader, ended up cowering in a corner and begging to be let go. He had even tried apologizing for all the years of torment he had caused him. Issei however, wasn't having any of it. He grabbed him by his collar and brought him up right to his face where he glared menacingly at him with a sadistic smile on his lips and asked him one simple question; "Why should I show you mercy when you haven't done the same?"

Then one by one, Issei proceeded to use his immense strength to break both of the boy's arms and legs. In his entire life Issei hadn't ever heard anyone scream as loudly as the boy did. Issei had then firmly planted his foot on the boy's chest and glared angrily down at him as the boy stared back up at him with wide, teary eyes that were filled with absolute fear. Issei had threatened that if he and his friends had ever tried to pick on him, any other kid, or mention to anybody that he broke his limbs, that he would do even worse. With one last kick to the boy's face, Issei had made his way home wearing a satisfied smirk the entire way.

The next day the police had been able to find the three injured boys and had tried to find out who had attacked them, only to find out that the boys couldn't remember who it was that did. Since they all had injuries on their heads, the police assumed that they had suffered minor memory loss but had still tried to search for the attacker. Issei had laughed at how they would never be able to find out that it was him.

About a year later, Issei's parents had surprised him by saying that they were once again moving to a different city and that he would once again be transferring schools. He had never hugged his parents any tighter than he had that day and was practically beaming the entire way there. From then on, Issei was able to live a normal life all the way through middle school. No one had ever bullied him or tried to pick on him and was actually able to make a few friends in the process. One of them was a brown haired girl named Irina Shidou. A genuine smile appeared on Issei's lips as he remembered the many fun times they had together. Besides his parents, Irina was one of the few people that Issei had cared about the most. Sadly their fun times had to come to an end because she moved all the way to Italy. Due to her family being devout Christians, they had decided to further her religious education in the Vatican. But no matter how far apart they were from each other, they promised that they would always be friends no matter what.

After middle school, Issei had been spent one year in home schooling in order to get some extra practice in for high school since his last year had been a little rough due to his grades. But after that his parents had decided that he was ready and enrolled him as a second year in Kuoh Academy. The rest after that was history.

"Mr. Hyoudou" a sudden voice spoke up as Issei shook his head and looked up to see the teacher looking at him with a stern expression while the other students were staring at him with questioning glances. "Mr. Hyoudou, I know that today is your first day at a new school. But that doesn't give you a reason to not pay attention when I'm speaking. Now, would you be so kind as to answer the question on the board for us please?"

"U-Um yes Sensei. I'm sorry" Said Issei as he blushed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment before getting up out of his seat and walking towards the front of the classroom. After carefully examining the question, Issei picked up the chalk and wrote down his answer before he placed it back down and walked back to his seat. The teacher looked at what his new student wrote down before lifting his eyebrows and looking back at Issei in surprise. "That's…correct. Excellent job Issei."

With a satisfied smile, Issei nodded towards his teacher in appreciation before leaning back in his seat as he listened to the teacher's speech. Casually ignoring the surprised looks the other students were giving him and occasionally glancing back outside through the window.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kuoh Academy, six hours later<strong>_

Issei stifled a yawn with the palm of his hand as he walked out of the front entrance of the school's main building along with numerous of other students. The sky was a dark orange with a tint of brown as the sun was setting on the edge of the horizon. Even though it was just his first day at yet another new school, Issei could honestly admit that it was probably the most boring day he had ever had in his entire life. The whole time he literally did nothing but sit flat on his ass for hours on end in a wooden desk listening to his teachers rant on and on about various topics and endless math problems. It wasn't that he hated his teachers, in fact he loved all of them. It was just that he didn't give a _shred _of a shit about what they were talking about. Even if it was necessary to learn for graduation. It was so boring that he actually wished for some idiot to try to mess with him just so he would have something to do.

Oh how he wished for those bullies to come back into his life.

With another stifled yawn, Issei walked out of the Academy's main gate and took a left where he soon crossed a bridge over one of the town's main highways, where he soon came into a nearby park and made his way back home. Determined to get another good night's sleep after a long boring-ass day.

From the top floor of the Academy's main building, four women were busy watching as Issei left the school's courtyard and out of the main gate. One of them being the red haired girl that was watching Issei earlier from the top of the stairs. Said redhead still held a content smile on her face as she turned to the woman standing right next to her. "Well Sona, what do you think?" she asked.

The girl next to her was about a few inches shorter than her with a slim, skinny body and pitch black hair that was styled in a bob cut along with amethyst colored eyes that were covered by a pair of pink rimmed glasses.

Sona Sitri, the Student Council President of Kuoh Academy as well as heiress of the Sitri devil clan, crossed her arms and stared at Issei's retreating form with a small frown on her face before looking back over to her childhood friend. "He certainly is an interesting one Rias. No matter how much I try, I can't get an exact read on his aura, power level, or anything else about him. It's as if he's many beings put into one body. It's strange… I've never seen anything like it."

Rias Gremory, the heiress of the Gremory devil clan as well as the Empress of Annihilation, smiled even wider as she crossed her own arms under her large breasts and looked towards Issei as he disappeared behind the gate. "You see? I knew he was special the moment I laid my eyes on him. The question now, however is what are we going to do about him?"

A sudden burst of giggling soon brought the two women out of their conversation and turned to see another girl about the same height as Rias with long black hair tied into a single ponytail with an orange ribbon. Her Kuoh Academy uniform hugged her shapely hourglass figure tightly as her amethyst colored eyes shined with amusement.

Akeno Himejima, the current Queen of Rias Gremory's peerage as well as the Priestess of Thunder, brought up a hand to her mouth to suppress another round of giggles as she looked at the two women in front of her with a large smile on her face. "My my, have we all gained an interest in our new cute student? Not that I'm complaining. After all I wouldn't mind having him all to myself." She spoke with a hint of lust in her light and cute voice as she burst into another round of giggles.

"Now is not the time to get into one of your 'moods' Akeno." said Sona as she sighed, which caused the Priestess of Thunder to pout in response.

"Indeed. We should be using this time to analyze our student and find out what he really is." Said a cold female voice from beside her. Said female was another tall girl with an ample figure that had long black hair that reached all the way down to her knees along with a pair of blue, half-rimmed glasses that covered her topaz colored eyes that were staring at the school's front gate with a narrowed and cold gaze while her arms were also crossed under her well-endowed chest.

"Well, what do you think of him Tsubaki?" Sona asked her friend as she raised her eyebrow curiously at her.

Tsubaki Shinra, the Vice-President of the Student Council as well as Queen of Sona's peerage, simply kept staring at the last spot she saw Issei at before turning her attention back towards Sona. "Other than the fact that we have absolutely no idea who or what he is? Not much. He may seem like a normal human being, but that abnormally large and mysterious aura that surrounds him says otherwise. We don't know what he is or what he has that is able to generate that much power, but so far I don't like it. There is a large chance that he may posses a threat later in the future. I say we should keep watching him and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

Sona was momentarily surprised by her queen's awful large opinion on the mysterious new student and was about to speak until Rias beat her to it. "You're worrying too much Tsubaki. I will admit that he is a rather strange being but that doesn't mean we should judge him right away. For now I think we should just take things slow and see if we can get to know him more. Try to get on his good side. That way we'll be able to figure out who he is and if he does possess a threat." _'And hopefully I'll be able to gain a powerful new ally in the process'_ thought Rias as a mischievous smile came onto her face. Which didn't go unnoticed by Sona who soon gained a slightly nervous glint in her eyes.

'_I've known her long enough to know what that look on her face means. I just hope you aren't willing to do anything drastic Rias.'_ Thought Sona in slight worry for her friend. Fearing that she might do something incredibly dangerous or incredibly foolish in order to get through to the one known as Issei Hyoudou.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Issei's subconscious, five hours later<strong>_

"So basically for the entire day I'm just sitting there on my ass listening to the teachers ramble on and on about the history of Great Britain, the Biology of Fish, and how to find X when you square root 5 from 25 and all that bullshit that I don't care about." Said Issei as he dramatically sighed and threw his arms up into the air.

He was currently within the library of Hermaeus Mora located deep within his subconscious along with Miraak and Alex. As soon as he had fallen asleep, Issei had traveled to the library so that he could tell his tenants how his first day of High School went. Miraak was rather curious and somewhat amused at how Issei explained his entire day while Alex just stood off to the side leaning on one of the bookshelves with his hands in his pockets looking like he usually did; not caring about anything.

"**Well…it seems that this 'High School', wasn't exactly as you expected it to be, was it Issei?"** asked Miraak with his arms crossed and a slight smirk of amusement behind his golden mask.

"You're damn right it wasn't." muttered Issei as he stuffed his own hands in his pockets. "I mean I know its High School and it isn't supposed to be a dream vacation, but I didn't think it would be _that _boring." He said as he took another long sigh.

"Kid, its school. No matter how fun you want or think it's gonna be, it's always gonna find a way to fuck you over. Then soon it'll make you rethink on your entire life and you'll be asking yourself, "What did I ever do to deserve this?"" said Alex as he continued leaning on the bookshelf while looking at the Issei and Miraak with a slightly annoyed expression.

Issei only growled and glared at him with even more annoyance. "Gee, thanks for the great advice. Asshole." Said Issei as he muttered the last word to himself. Though Alex was clearly able to hear it due to his increased sense of hearing, which prompted him to send Issei his own glare while flipping him the finger.

"**Alright alright, let us not fight amongst ourselves."** Said Miraak as he calmly got in between the two. His expression behind his mask soon turned serious as he directed his attention back at Issei. **"Issei, there is something important that I must tell you. It seems that when you were born, Azathoth's power was not the only thing that you had gained. There was another being that had inducted itself into your body as well."** He said, which prompted Issei to look at him with side eyes and Alex to stand up from his position with his hands out of his pockets.

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about? You're saying that there's something else inside me that I never knew about?" asked Issei with his voice slightly raised.

"**Yes. In fact, Mr. Mercer and I both had the pleasure of meeting him quite some time ago during your training. The only reason you were not able to meet him was because he was not ready to reveal himself to you. But now it appears that that time has come. Follow me.** Said Miraak as he began walking down one of the library's hallways, Issei and Alex quickly following in tow. Issei however was still trying to process what he had just been told and looked back at Alex for any answers.

"Hey Alex, what the hell is he talking about? Who or what exactly did you guys see?" said Prototype simply just kept his gaze on the walking knight ahead of them before turning his head to glance at Issei.

"It would be better if you saw for yourself kid." Was all he said before directing his attention back on the knight.

Issei, clearly annoyed that he didn't get any answers, simply kept his mouth shut and continued walking along with Miraak and Alex through the library's various hallways until they reached what looked like the very back of the library. Located on the back wall was another one of the large doors that had carvings of numerous monsters. Miraak soon opened the door and the three walked through, only to be met with the sight of a large space filled with nothing but darkness and a long stone staircase that dropped all the way down into the darkness below. Issei's was about to ask where it lead until he saw both Alex and Miraak make their way down the stairs. Deciding not to ask any more questions, Issei simply followed their lead and walked down the long staircase. Eagerly waiting to see what was down below.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Deeper within Issei's subconscious <strong>_

"I-Is that what I think it is!?" yelled Issei I total shock at what was standing in front of him and Alex and Miraak, who were silently standing behind Issei.

**{Ah, so this is my host. I must say that it is pleasant to finally meet you face to face.}** boomed a loud and deep voice that echoed all throughout the area.

Yellow, orange and red flames burned and raged all throughout the area that Issei was standing in although for some reason he felt that they couldn't burn him. It was literally as if he were standing within the mouth of Hell itself except that he was immune to its intense flames.

And standing about a hundred feet tall within the multicolored flames was a massive Dragon that had crimson scales and horns that ran along its back, neck and head. Its head was in the shape of a colossal-sized arrowhead and within the head were two massive emerald green eyes that were peering down right at him through the intense light of the nearby flames.

Issei simply stood frozen into his spot with his jaw hung low and his eyes the size of plates. Out of all the things he had seen in his life, he had never thought that he would ever see an actual live Dragon. And the thought of it being within his own _mind_ made even more unbelievable to him.

With all the strength he could muster at the moment, Issei slowly brought up his shaking arm and pointed it directly at the Dragon. "W-Who are y-you?" asked Issei as he tried to regain control of his body.

The massive Dragon simply stared down at him with his bright green eyes for a moment before tilting his head to the side and answering in its deep, loud voice.

**{Hmph. Well since you are so eager to find out, I shall tell you. I am known as Ddraig the Welsh Dragon, or more commonly known as the Red Dragon Emperor. And you are my new host, Issei Hyoudou.}**

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: Hey guys. Sorry it took me so long to update. School's been a real pain in the ass lately and I haven't had that much time to write because of homework. Plus I kinda got lazy and didn't really feel like writing at times but either way I apologize. I'll try to update more frequently but I can't promise anything because of school, so don't get your hopes up. <strong>

**Anyway, sorry for the long update and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: I was recently informed that Issei's hometown was actually named Kuoh instead of Kyoto so it'll be referred to as the city of **_**Kuoh **_**from now on.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>( ) Miraak telepathic <strong>_

_**[ ] Alex telepathic speech**_

_**{ } Ddraig speech/ telepathic speech **_

**Chapter Six: Boosted Strength **

"D-draig? The Red Dragon Emperor?" Issei asked while still in mild shock.

**{That is correct Issei Hyoudou}** the newly named Ddraig confirmed as he nodded his large scaled head down at Issei.

"But I don't understand! How the hell is a living, breathing _Dragon _inside of my mind!? And how come I haven't met you before until now!?"

**{Well, to answer your first question Issei Hyoudou. The reason I am here is because I am sealed within the Sacred Gear that is inside of your body. And the reason why I am revealing myself to you now is because I was not able to fully awaken until recently. Though I was able to witness your entire life through your very eyes, and even though I have witnessed things that a child would find much more terrifying, you do have my sympathy.} **said Ddraig with a small trace of sincerity in his deep voice.

"Uh… thanks, I guess." Spoke Issei with an awkward tone and shifting his eyes away from the large Welsh Dragon. Feeling a little embarrassed and offended that the Dragon had basically spied on him since he was born without him knowing about. The awkwardness soon turned to sudden realization as Issei suddenly remembered something that Ddraig had said. "Wait a minute! You said that you were sealed in something called a Sacred Gear that was also inside of my body. What exactly is a Sacred Gear?"

Though Issei, Miraak, and Alex couldn't see it, Ddraig raised his scale lips into that of a smirk before answering. **{Hmph. You certainly are a smart host. A Sacred Gear is an item with powerful abilities that were bestowed upon humans from the original God from the Bible. They can come in many different shapes and forms, as well as different types. There are common ones known as Twice Critical, which usually have Dragon's sealed within them, yours being one of those. There are also the Longinus, which are unique and rare Sacred Gears that have enough power to kill a God. Because of this there are only thirteen in existence. But lucky for you, yours just so happens to be one of those thirteen Sacred Gears." **

If Issei wasn't as shocked as he was now, then he would have been the world's worst liar. Not only did he have the power of an alien space God and a giant Red Dragon sealed within him, but he apparently also had a device that had enough power to kill a God. Issei simply shook his head in bewilderment. Just how many of these weird powers was he going to get?

"**Fascinating"** Issei heard Miraak say as the knight continued to stare at Ddraig through his mask. **"To be able to kill a God with nothing but a mere item is truly something worth unbelieving."**

"Hn, You're tellin' me." Alex said with a grunt as he crossed his arms over his chest with a frown adorning his brows. "It wasn't enough that he had weird powers from a giant-ass space alien or a huge fucking Dragon in his head. But now he has another power that's able to kill a God. Just how screwed up are things going to keep on getting?" he asked as he also shook his head.

With a slight nod in agreement, Issei took the time to massage his temples in order to calm his rising stress level down before looking back up at the Welsh Dragon. "So uh, Ddraig? How exactly do I activate this Sacred Gear?"

**{It is simple really. First hold out your left hand.} **Issei looked momentarily confused by this sudden request but soon nodded in understand and stretched out his left arm as commanded. **{Now I want you to focus on that inner energy of yours and think of the strongest thing that you can possibly imagine.} **Now Issei was really confused. What did imagining the strongest thing he could think of have to so with unlocking his Sacred Gear? Regardless, Issei did as he was told, closed his eyes and tried to imagine anything that he thought was powerful. As minutes passed he started to struggle since he couldn't really think of anything that Ddraig would deem as powerful. He tried to think of himself as a powerful fighter what with all of the superpowers he had but even that didn't work.

Just as he was about to give up, his struggle was soon brought to a halt when thought of a familiar space God that was responsible for him receiving his power.

Just then, Issei suddenly felt a strange feeling that was churning on the inside of his body. That feeling was then moved itself through his body and directed itself toward his left arm. A bright flash shined itself through Issei's eyelids as he quickly opened them and saw that a green light was enveloping itself over Issei's entire arm. About a second later the flash immediately died down and Issei gasped in surprise and shock when he saw that his left arm was replaced by a large, red armored gauntlet with a small yellow spike on each of its sides as well as a large green spherical gem directly in the center of it.

"W-What the hell is this thing?" Issei said in awe as he examined the gauntlet on his arm. A deep grunt brought him out of his examination as he looked up and saw that Ddraig was looking at him with narrowed eyes.

**{What does it look like? It's your Sacred Gear, and a powerful one at that. It's called the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet. Many also know it as the Boosted Gear. Its ability is doubling its wielder's power every ten seconds as well as transferring power to anything or anyone it touches. It may just look like a regular gauntlet, but it is highly useful for any dangerous situation. Right now it is currently in its Twice Critical form, which is its weakest state. In order to convert it into its next level, you will need to learn how to use it and control its power. Great power comes with great responsibility, and trust me when I say that this Gear will not be easy to use. Many of my past hosts have been too overconfident and destroyed themselves after trying to gain too much power for them to handle. But if you're smart and actually use it wisely, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Especially if you combine it with the power that you already have.} **

"W-Wait… how'd you know about that? Issei asked with his eyes widened once again. This only prompted Ddraig give out a low scoff in response.

**{You forget that I've also been inside your body just as long as that power has. And I must admit that even for a powerful Dragon such as I, never before have I ever felt anything like it. It is strange and yet so mysterious. But that is what I like about you Issei Hyoudou. You are indeed are mysterious being, and as such I feel as though we will have an interesting partnership.} **

For the first time tonight, Issei gave the large Welsh Dragon a genuine grin and a nod of approval. Even though they had just met, Issei could feel that he and Ddraig were going to get along very well with each other. He was also a little giddy on the inside considering the fact that he would be receiving help from a live Dragon that was actually on the inside of his mind. Issei didn't know whether his life was taking a turn for the best or for worst, but either way he didn't care.

He was about to speak again until he felt the entire area around him tremor with a large shake. Ddraig lifted his large scaled head and scanned the area above him forma bit before looking back down at Issei, as well as Alex and Miraak.

**{It appears that Issei is about to awaken from his slumber. I'm afraid we will have to cut this discussion short until we have more time to speak. Until then Issei, you might want to use any free time that you have to get accommodated with your new Sacred Gear. I suggest that you find any secluded places that are well out of eyesight and use them to train. When training, I will be helping you by speaking to you telepathically through the Gear's gem. And make sure that you are not followed. This city contains a strong presence of Devils and Fallen Angels and it would be wise to stay well out of their sights.} **

Issei nodded in understanding just as he felt another tremor occur about a minute later. With another satisfied grin, he looked at Ddraig and gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry Ddraig. I have a feeling those guys won't even want to come within a hundred feet of me once I learn more about the Gear. Whelp, looks like my time here is done. I'll try to find a safe place tomorrow after school and I'll be sure to talk to you guys again if I need any help. See ya' later!"

And with that, Issei transmitted away and disappeared from the inner inferno deep within his mind and back outside to his body, leaving the Dragon, Virus, and Knight standing alone within the blazing fires. After a few minutes of an awkward silence between the three with the only sound emanating from the nearby fires, Alex gave a grunt in annoyance before looking up at the crimson Dragon. "So big guy, that armored glove of yours can really double the kid's power _every_ ten seconds?" he asked with a bit of doubt echoing in his voice.

Ddraig for his part, simply cast his large dark green eyes on Alex before narrowing his eyes and giving him a deep scoff in annoyance. **{That **_**armored glove**_** as you put it, happens to be one of the thirteen most powerful items in the entire world. If properly trained and used wisely, it can have the power to kill a God or a Satan King. It's not just handed out to any human like it's free candy. Besides Issei, only two other humans have been graced with the Boosted Gear. And instead of using it wisely like they should have, they both treated it as a weapon of war, using it to conquer their enemies and to show their superiority over others which ultimately lead to their unfortunate demise. But with Issei, I feel that he will make things entirely different.} **

"**You are correct to have confidence in Issei."** Spoke Miraak for the first time. **"He may seem foolish and overconfident at first, but once you really get to know him, you will see just how much of a success he can be. And he may not look like it, but he can also be real threat. As long as you don't set him the wrong way." **

**{Indeed. I pity anyone who is foolish enough to cross their blades with him.} **said Ddraig nodding in agreement.

"Heh, I will admit, the kid's gonna make one hell of a demon once someone pisses him off enough. And when they do, I'm gonna be right there to see it." Said Alex with a malicious grin under his hood.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Issei's bedroom, five hours later<strong>_

Issei woke up with a grunt along with heavy half-lidded eyes as he stretched his arms and got up out of his bed to close his curtains. It was another beautiful sunny day in the City of Kuoh and daily life was going on as usual. Except for the fact that Devils were hiding and going to public school amongst human teenagers. If he was any normal human teen, Issei would've laughed in the person's face and just walk away, but fortunately for him he wasn't human. Not in the slightest anymore. He had lost his humanity long ago when he had nearly beat the school bullies to death with him walking and smiling about it all the way home. It was funny really. Every time he thought about it almost made it wish he could regain his humanity.

Almost.

With a stifled yawn, Issei made his way to his closet and dawned his usual school attire before heading downstairs and eating a quick breakfast. He then opened his front door and bid his parents a quick farewell before jogging his way to school. Ready for another day of long, boring-ass speeches.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Abandoned Church, five miles from Kuoh Academy <strong>_

A tall, busty and curvaceous woman wearing a black short-sleeved jacket and short skirt with long Navy blue hair and pale skin scowled as she sat on one of the numerous empty rows of benches within the Church with her legs crossed over her large thick thighs. Her golden necklace dangled in the crevice of her large breasts and her dark blue eyes narrowed in frustration, annoyance, and anger as she kicked the bench in front of her with one of her high-heeled shoes.

Hours ago her master had ordered her to observe (more like spy) on the boy that contained the large energy source and to report back to him if she had found anything interesting. Just like her master, as well as her comrades, she too had sensed the enormous pressure of power that the boy had given off over seventeen years ago. At first she was, dare she admit it, scared that some unknown entity was about to attack, but that fear soon turned to relief as the enormous pressure suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye and was reduced to nothing but a low hum as the years went by. Ever since then she was still a bit weary of it but was more skeptical overall.

After all, how could a single human brat contain that much power in the first place?

Another scowl made its way up on her face as she remembered the order her master had given her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Unknown warehouse, the day before <strong>_

"_But Lord Azazel, why does it have to be me? Can't you get Raynare or Dohnaseek to do it instead? You know I hate when you assign one of us to just 'observe' someone. Especially when it's just some kid." said the woman in an annoyed sultry voice towards her leader, who was simply sitting at a nearby table with his arm supporting his head looking rather bored. _

"_Now now Kalawarner. The reason why I chose you is because I felt you were then only who was up to the task. Plus I trust you more because out of all your comrades, you are the one with the most patience. I mean Raynare and Dohnaseek would have just outright tried to kill him. And Mittelt, well… between you and me, we both know how Mittelt is when it comes to spying." _

_The woman known as Kalawarner gave out a slight chuckle at her master's sense of humor before quickly switching back to her annoyed expression. "But why are we even wasting our time with this kid when we should be fighting off the Devils? Is he really that important?" _

_Azazel's usual calm and lazy expression suddenly morphed into that of strict and serious. Something that was rare even for her to see. "It may not seem like it Kalawarner, but that boy possesses something that could either make him a valuable ally or our worst enemy. Either way, I know for sure that we were not the only ones who were able to sense his presence. There's no doubt that the Devils, Angels, and even the Khaos Brigade have all sensed him as well. Since we will soon be on peaceful terms with Devils and Angels, I know for a fact that they won't try to harm him but simply seek to gain his aid, though I can't say the same for maybe a few rogue Devils. The Khaos Brigade, however, are an entirely different matter. Since the faction is made up entirely out of powerful beings, and since the boy contains a large amount of power, my guess is that they will either try to recruit him or destroy him. Based on whether or not they deem him as a threat or an ally. This is why I feel that we should keep watch over him. To make sure that he doesn't run into the wrong people."_

_Kalawarner raised her eyebrows at Azazel's statement. "But I still don't get it Lord Azazel, if he's as powerful as you say he is then why watch over him? What makes you think that he can't handle anyone on his own?" _

"_Because there has to be experience behind all of that power. As far as I know, that kid has never even come into contact with any of the three factions much less fought one. And if he were to fight a member of the Khaos Brigade, there's a high chance that he could wind up dead. And to lose a chance at gaining a powerful ally is definitely something I don't want. Plus, the kid highly intrigues me. So I'll ask again Kalawarner, can I trust you with this simple errand?" he asked her with a questioning look. _

_Kalawarner looked down at the floor and mauled over the question. While it was true that the boy did slightly interest her, the last thing she wanted to do was to watch him. She was a Fallen Angel not a babysitter. And if the boy didn't have any knowledge of the power he holds and someone attacked him then she wouldn't be able to protect him by herself. Yes, she did think of herself as a capable fighter but even she knew her limits. And there was no way in hell that she would be able to fight against someone from the Khaos Brigade. _

"_Kalawarner" a sudden voice brought her out of her thoughts and looked up to see Azazel staring at her with his still stern expression along with his arms crossed. With a long frustrated sigh, Kalawarner gave her master a slight nod in reluctant acceptance before narrowing her eyes at him. "Fine, I'll watch over the brat. But don't expect me to save his ass when he's attacked." _

_Azazel's stern gaze soon turned back into a relaxed expression as a cool smile made its way onto his lips. "Thank you Kalawarner. I knew I was right when I chose you for the job."_

"_Tch, whatever." Grumbled Kalawarner as she left the warehouse._

* * *

><p>Ever since then, Kalawarner had been mauling over how exactly she was supposed to keep an eye on the kid without getting caught. She obviously couldn't just waltz right into the school he went to because it was right in the middle of Devil territory, plus she looked like she was in her late twenties and was too old to pose as one of the students.<p>

Azazel never really delved into any detail at when or how long she was supposed to watch him. Since she wore lots of dark clothing, she would definitely stick out like a sore thumb during the daytime. But since the kid's school ended at sunset, she figured that she could watch him from the shadows or high above the sky during the night. That might work if the kid didn't have the ability to sense other supernatural creatures, then she'd be screwed.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching that kid?" asked a male voice from beside her. Kalawarner turned her head and immediately scowled as she saw a tall man in his early thirties wearing a long dark-grey trench coat along with black slacks, black dress shoes and a black fedora on top of his head that covered most of his shaggy long dark hair. He currently had his arms crossed and was leaning against the nearby wall while looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Kalawarner narrowed her own eyes back at him, although in a more dark matter before speaking. "Don't remind me Dohnaseek. It's bad enough that I even have to do it in the first place. Why the hell Lord Azazel is even I treated in this brat is beyond me. I mean just because he has some sort of weird power doesn't mean that we should waste our time watching him. Especially mine." She said as she grumbled the last part to herself but the other man had clearly been able to hear her.

Said man, now named Dohnaseek, simply gave Kalawarner a smug smile under the shade of his hat before giving off a light chuckle in amusement. "Heh, sucks to be you. 'least I don't have to waste my time watching over some stupid human kid."

This only prompted Kalawarner to send him a heavy glare in response but soon had a smug smile of her own a minute later. "Well of course Lord Azazel didn't choose you. After all he said that I was the most trustworthy and that all you would do is screw it up."

"What!?" yelled Dohnaseek in disbelieving anger as he jumped from his spot off the wall and sent a glare towards Kalawarner. "What the hell are you talking about!? I'm more than capable of handling a simple observation mission! In fact, I'm even more capable than you are!"

Kalawarner only crossed her arms under her well-developed chest and sent a skeptical look towards her 'comrade'. "Right…and I'm an Angel with a golden fleece and six and a half wings. Remember the last time Lord Azazel sent you to observe someone? Instead of actually _observing_ them, you just put a light spear through their chest. And don't make me remind you of the punishment that Lord Azazel gave you for disobeying orders…"

"That wasn't my fault!" Dohnaseek yelled in anger. "Lord Azazel said that he could have a threat to us! All I was doing was simply eliminating a possible enemy!"

"That's right. _Possible _enemy. You didn't know that he could've been one to begin with." Kalawarner retorted as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and annoyance. "Look, the point is that I was chosen for this mission because Lord Azazel thought that I was the most trustworthy, whether I want to do it or not. If you don't like it, then you can go cry yourself a river, build a bridge and get over it, you big cry baby."

Even though she couldn't see it, a vein had popped out of Dohnaseek's head as he sucked in his teeth and gave out a snarl of anger. "Why you stupid fucking bit-"

"What the hell is going on here?" a female voice said from the sidelines as the two Fallen Angels turned their heads to see a woman who looked to be in her early twenties with long raven-black hair that reached down to her mid-back and amethyst colored eyes while wearing a _very_ revealing black leather outfit that had three silver spikes on her right shoulder and a broken chain that was dangling from her left upper arm along with knee-high leather boots and arm-length leather gloves. She was currently looking at the two other Fallen Angels with a confused stare.

Dohnaseek quickly regained his composure while Kalawarner merely gave her a sideways glance and a small scoff. "It's nothing Raynare. Just having a little chat with Dohnaseek is all. In fact, I was just about to leave on a mission that Lord Azazel had assigned me. So if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way." She said before she walked towards the church's entrance and disappeared into the nearby trees.

The other woman, now named Raynare, looked to where Kalawarner disappeared from for a minute longer before turning her attention towards Dohnaseek, who was still glaring in the direction that Kalawarner walked off to. "What was that all about?" she asked him in confusion.

Dohnaseek held his glare towards the outside before letting out a deep scoff and turning towards Raynare. "Lord Azazel sent her to observe that boy with the weird power level because apparently _she_ was the most trustworthy. And that woman had the gall to tell me that I would only screw things up if I was chosen. Honestly, if she wasn't a Fallen Angel I'd kill her the first chance I'd get."

Raynare simply stared at him with a blank face until she gave off a mere shrug in response. "Well you're not exactly the 'observing' type." She said.

Dohnaseek's anger quickly returned to him as he sent a heated glare towards Raynare. "Do you want me to shove a light spear through your chest as well?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Raynare only offered him a single smug smirk. "Only if you want me to burn your _special stash_."

In a matter of seconds Dohnaseek's personality did a complete 180 and his expression changed from heated anger to horrified silent. He didn't utter a single word but merely cast his gaze down to the ground where the shadow of his hat completely covered his eyes and offered the other Fallen Angel a single silent nod before putting his hands in his coat pockets and silently walked away deeper into the church, leaving Raynare completely alone while she giggled to herself like madwoman.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Secluded forest area, one hour after school<strong>_

**BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM**

A loud explosion suddenly filled the nearby atmosphere as a large shockwave shook the nearby ground. Everywhere in the surrounding area, broken pieces of trees, dirt, and rocks littered the ground. Large craters were penetrated deep within the earth as light trails of smoke slowly rose out of the burning ground. In the center of it all stood Issei with his newly acquired Sacred Gear resting on his arm, only this time the Gear had transformed and Issei's arm now looked like a full red Dragon's claw that went all the way up to his elbow in dark crimson armor filled with rows of spikes. The green gem was laying lifelessly in the middle of the large gauntlet as Issei cracked his neck and stretched his arms.

"Damn, who would've thought that this thing could shoot out giant explosive laser beams? It's a miracle how no one has found me yet." He said to himself as he continued stretching. Just as Ddraig had instructed him to, Issei had immediately gone to a secluded part of the town right after school so that he could train in using his new Sacred Gear. It took some time, but with Ddraig's help he was able to get the handle of it in no time. He had even advanced the Gear to its next level, which was apparently supposed to make it stronger. And stronger did it get. Every time Issei added another boom of continuous boosts of power to himself, he instantaneously felt like he could take on any army by himself. Not only was he faster, stronger, and more durable, he was also able to strengthen the powers that he already had. Such as adding more distance and speed to his Mark's Blinking ability or making his Blade Arm sharper and bigger. He could literally cut through a solid bolder as if it was nothing but butter. He had also discovered that the Gear itself contained powers of its own.

One of which was shooting giant-ass laser beams.

_**{Nicely done Issei. I have to day that out of all my previous hosts, you have progressed faster than any of them had. You have even managed to advance the Gear to its second stage on the first day. Something that no one has been able to do.} **_said Ddraig with pride for his new host.

_**(Indeed. With a power like that, there is no telling what you could do.) **_said Miraak with fascination for the Sacred Gear.

_**[Next thing you know he'll be shooting goddamn fireballs. Just what else can that metal glove do?] **_asked Alex with a small amount of disbelief.

'_Don't know…let's find out shall we?'_ asked Issei telepathically as he took a deep breath and got into a battle ready stance. "Alright Boosted Gear, let's see what you can really do!" he yelled to the red gauntlet. Suddenly the green gem in the middle of Issei's hand lit up with a bright glow.

_**(BOOST)**_ yelled a voice from inside the gem that sounded very familiar to Ddraig's. Issei could instantaneously feel the power storing up within his left hand. "C'mon, more! Show me what you can really do!" he yelled to the gauntlet.

_**(BOOST) **_said Ddraig's voice from inside the gem as it continued to glow.

"I know you can do better than that!" yelled Issei has he continued to store as much power as he could.

_**(BOOSTx10) **_one by one the gem continued to glow brighter and brighter as each Boost was applied to it. Continuously making it stronger and stronger as each set of ten seconds passed by. "That's more like it! Now here we go! **Dragon Shot!**" he yelled as he trusted his arm forward.

All that stored power was then released into a single tiny red ball that shot out of Issei's hand. That tiny red ball then began to grow and grow until a giant red laser suddenly shot forward at unreal speeds towards the sky.

**BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM**

The red laser suddenly exploded high up into the sky with unrelenting force as smoke filled the entire area while red and orange fire slowly fell towards the earth. The echo of the large 'BOOM' still rung in Issei's ears as he looked at the explosion with complete awe._'That… was a little bigger than I expected it to be. No doubt that's going to attract a lot of attention. I better get the hell out of hear.'_ He said to himself before the gauntlet faded out of existence as he hightailed it out of the forest and towards his house, carefully making sure that he wasn't caught by the local authorities or any supernatural entities.

Too bad he never noticed someone hiding deep within the trees, who had watched the entire thing with a gob smacked expression.

* * *

><p>Being a Fallen Angel, Kalawarner had seen a lot of strange and unbelievable things in her life. She had killed innocent humans, a few Angels, and even a few stray Devils. But never in her entire life had she seen anything as unbelievable as this.<p>

Just a little over an hour ago, she had arrived near the school where she had been able to get a good glimpse at the kid she was supposed to watch over. And she did admit to herself that he was kind of cute. But what really got her interested was that not only was she was able to sense his strange aura but also the aura of a Dragon, something that she had never sensed before. So after he had left the school she had followed a good distance behind him while being careful to not get caught into a remote forested area that was away from the nearby town, which had confused her. Why would he come all the way out here by himself where he could've easily been ambushed?

That confusing soon turned into shock after a large red metal gauntlet suddenly materialized itself on his arm. This kid also had a Sacred Gear! And it wasn't just any Sacred Gear, it was one of the thirteen Longinus, the Boosted Gear, which was said to hold the Red Dragon Emperor himself! Just how in the hell did this kid get it?

Her shock had only increased further as she watched him shoot at the nearby trees with giant red beams of light that literally blew up anything it touched. She had silently thanked God that he didn't ever shoot in her direction, or else this would've been one short mission. She then got her final shock of the day when he had fired his last beam of light into the sky where it created a large explosion that sent massive shockwaves throughout the entire area. She had even almost fell out of the tree she was hiding in because it was so powerful!

Just as she was getting herself situated back into the tree, she was able to make out the kid's running figure as he retreated back into the forest, probably heading back towards the town. She was also able to hear numerous sirens off in the distance from the human's emergency vehicles as they continued growing louder and louder with each wasting second.

"Shit, I need to get out of here and report this to Lord Azazel!" she said to herself as her wings appeared from out of her back and took flight back towards Azazel's warehouse at top speed, while the thoughts of the unknown human boy still plagued her mind.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Underworld, Phenex Mansion<strong>_

Located in a large mansion deep within the Underworld, a young man in his early twenties with long shaggy blonde hair wearing a red burgundy blazer on top of a white buttoned up dress shirt along with red slacks and black dress shoes sat in his office with narrowed eyes and a contemplating look on his face.

Just like the other three factions, he had also sensed the tremendous power that had appeared out of nowhere seventeen years ago and frankly, it unnerved him a bit. Even after all of his years of living, he had never sensed anything like it before. It was so mysterious that he didn't know what to make of it. Only that it had actually felt on par with the Infinite Dragon God's, maybe even stronger.

It had also angered him to no end.

To know that there was something more powerful out there than the glorious power of the Phoenix had sent angry tremors down his spine. He could understand the fact that the Dragon God had more power but for something else that he or any of the other Devils had absolutely no knowledge of made him even more angrier. The Phenex Clan was one of the most powerful and prestigious families of all the 72 Pillars and was known for their instantaneous healing abilities as well as their immortality. There was absolutely nothing in this world except for the Dragons that could take on a Phoenix and live to tell the tale. When he had first sensed the unknown power, he had immediately thought of going there and confronting it himself but the rational part of his brain soon thought against it. While it was true that the Phoenixes were vastly power, he still had no knowledge of what was giving off that unknown power. So he simply waited to see if anything would change over time.

And change it did. Over the years, the young future clan leader sensed that the power had actually been slowly growing stronger and stronger as the years progressed. And each and every time it grew, so did his anger. So one day he decided to take a trip up to the human world to see just where it was coming from when he discovered that it had actually been originating from where Sirzechs Lucifer's younger sister had been attending school. From there he was able to see that the power was emanating from a young boy who looked a few years younger than he did. This in fact, only made his anger increase tenfold. How could a mere human child possess that much power? Such things were never heard of, especially when it came to humans, if he even was human to begin with.

He was almost tempted to attack him right then and there. But just as he was about to fry the brat, he soon got an idea. What if he could somehow lure him into the Underworld where he could challenge him to a public death match. That way he could show all of the other Devils that this kid was nothing more than an illusion and that the Phenex Clan was still ranked number one.

So, it was without a further a dew that Riser Phenex of the prestigious Phenex Clan got up from his chair and made his way towards the Gremory Clan's mansion with a triumphant smirk on his face. Fully ready to show that brat that the Devils were still all powerful and that nothing could stop them.

And all he needed was permission from Sirzechs Lucifer himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Insanity's Manifestation **

"About fucking time!" yelled Issei in absolute relief as he ran out of his classroom, drawing raised eyebrows and slight frowns from the others students at his sudden use of harsh language.

Just as it had been in the weeks before, Issei had just barely managed to keep himself from going insane after _once again_ spending the entire day listening to nothing but six hours of mind numbing crap emanating from his teachers' mouths. Also the fact that he had about an hour of homework to do after it all only added on to the continuous torture of Satan's Funhouse known as school. Issue still never understood what the whole point of it was anyway. School was supposed to be a place where you would learn something that you would actually _use_ in the future. What the hell was the point of learning about a bunch of old dead kings and civilizations or the cell structures of fish? It's not like humanity was going to expand with a bunch of old dead corpses and ruined buildings, or learn how to cook a fish by studying its cells. Whatever the reasons were, he didn't care.

Just being out of that building was nothing short of a miracle from the Lord Almighty himself.

'_Oh sweet freedom how I've missed thee!' _Issei dramatically yelled in his head as he rounded the corner and sprinted towards the entrance, flawlessly dodging any students who were in his way and ignoring their startled cries and various "Watch where you're going!". He ran out of the front door, past the fountain and made a beeline towards the front gate.

"Hey new guy, hold on a second!" yelled a voice from behind Issei that made him come to a halting stop. With a frustrated sigh Issei turned around and saw that a male student about the same age as him with bright blonde hair and grey eyes was jogging towards him while waving his hand. Once he caught up to him he took a few moments to regain his breath before giving Issei a warm smile. "You're the student who recently transferred into Kuoh Academy right? My name's Kiba Yuuto. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said before he outstretched his hand over to Issei.

Issei, not really sure about the sudden greeting, simply stared at the man with a raised eyebrow before awkwardly taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "Uh… nice to meet you too Mr. Yuuto. I'm Issei Hyoudou. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked.

"You can just call me Kiba." Kiba said as he retracted his hand away from Issei. "And I just wanted to know how you've been adjusting to the Academy lately. I trust that everything is to your liking?" he asked as he continued to smile.

'_To my liking? It's fucking school. There's nothing I _like_ about it.' _Thought Issei while staring at Kiba as if he were the biggest dumbass on the face of the planet. "Uh, yeah. It sure is a neat school." He said while momentarily chastising himself for saying such a thing.

His lie only seemed to make Kiba smile brighter as he nodded his head. "It sure is! The best one in the entire city! We sure are lucky to have a wonderful student such as yourself attending the Academy. Should make the school year a lot more interesting with you around." He joyfully said while continuing to smile his warm yet _very_ creepy smile. "Say Issei, I was actually wondering if you had managed to join any of the school clubs yet. If not then I would be honored if you would consider in joining the Occult Research Club, which is also the club that I am currently in. It seems that our President has taken in interest in you and is eager to meet your acquaintance."

In response to his request, Issei only gave him a blank stare. He hadn't even known this guy for five seconds and already he was being asked to join his club. A club that studies mystical beings and the supernatural no less. _'There's no way in hell this can be a coincidence.'_ He thought while narrowing his eyes at Kiba, who shrank a bit under his gaze. _'I've been to a bunch of schools at not a single one of them had a club like this. In fact, no school I've heard of has had a supernatural research club to begin with. And it just so happens that the one school I transfer to, a preppy private school at that, has one? This has to be some sort of trick.' _

_**{Way to be the keen observer partner.} **_spoke Ddraig from within his mind. _**{I can sense that the person standing I. front of you is actually a Devil. And the club that he speaks of is merely a façade. He is trying to lead you towards the other Devils that reside within this school. Be on your guard.} **_

'_Ah, so that's it.' _Said Issei in understanding as he looked off to the side and gave a slight nod in response, which didn't go unnoticed by Kiba. _'They're trying to get me to join them. Well we'll just see about that. Thanks for the heads up Ddraig.' _With a mischievous smile, Issei ended the telepathic conversation between him and Ddraig before looking back at Kiba who was politely waiting for Issei's response, though the smile on his face was no longer there. "Sorry dude, but I'm not interested in joining any clubs right now. Give my regards to your president the next time you see him."

Kiba looked momentarily surprised and a little disappointed at Issei's refusal but quickly reverted back to his usual smile. "I understand. Sorry for wasting your time Issei. I'll see you later." And with that he quickly walked away from Issei and towards an old building that was right next to the school. Not once turning around to see the vicious yet victorious smile that Issei had on his own lips.

"Sorry pretty boy, but you and your other Devil buddies aren't going to get me that easily." He said as he walked out of the school's main gate and towards his house. Feeling relieved that he could finally go home yet slightly disappointed that he couldn't rip that damn smile off of Kiba's face.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Occult Research Building, an hour later<strong>_

"So Issei Hyoudou refused your offer to join the club?"

"I'm afraid so Ms. President. He never really looked interested to begin with. Plus he didn't seem like the type of person who socializes. But I did manage to catch something that was rather odd. When I asked him if he wanted to join, he immediately broke eye contact and looked off to the side. At first I just assumed that he was thinking of my proposal until he narrowed his eyes and nodded out of nowhere, as if he was hearing or listening to something that I couldn't hear. Then he looks back at me and rejects my offer before walking away. I don't know why but it seemed like he was suspicious of me. As if he knew what my intentions were."

"Hmm… that does sound very suspicious indeed. In fact it may almost be concerning. If Issei already knew what your intentions were, then there's a possibility that he might know that you're a Devil. And if he knows that you're a Devil then he knows that the rest of us are Devils, which is not a good thing."

"Then what do you propose we should do?"

"As I've said, it's a possibility that he might know we're Devils, but that doesn't mean he knows for sure. So we can't go picking fights or open threats since he hasn't deemed himself as a threat. But that doesn't that he won't be aggressive towards us if we try to keep pushing him to come to us. For now I say that we should continue to monitor him whenever we can and at least try to gain his friendship. This may also be a good opportunity to gain a potential ally."

"As you wish Ms. President. We'll make sure that we'll do our best into getting Issei Hyoudou's trust."

"I'm sure you will Kiba. It's getting pretty late, so why don't you head home and we'll discuss this more tomorrow."

"Alright, see you tomorrow Rias."

Rias Gremory sighed as her knight left the Occult Research Building, leaving her alone with the recent news regarding the mysterious student that was Issei Hyoudou. The fact that there was a possibility he could sense Devils wasn't a good thing indeed. If he could sense them, there was no way to tell how he would act. Would he simply brush them off and ignore them or would he just simply try to kill them all? Even though Rias knew that there was no way he could take them all out by himself, she still hoped that he chose the third option. This young man had lots of potential and it would be a dramatic waste if they had to kill him. And that potential was something she wanted.

Rias hoisted herself up from her desk chair and made her way towards the middle of the candle-lit room where she sat on one of the two couches that were on both sides of a large table. On top of the table was a small black and white checkerboard with black and white chess pieces placed on their respective squares, each color being on both sides of the board. With a silent _'hum'_, Rias placed her hand on her chin and simply stared at the board, quietly studying each and every piece that was placed on each square on both sides. After a few moments of silent concentration she reached out a took a single white piece before bringing it closer to her and silently gazing at it with her emerald eyes.

'_The Pawn' _she silently thought.

Just as its name induced, the Pawn was always seen as nothing more than the frontline soldier. It was simply used as a sacrificial piece in order to make way for the much stronger pieces. It had no special traits and was only able to move one square at a time, thereby making it completely useless in the eyes of most chess players. The name itself was more than enough to make it sound like a joke. It was treated like nothing but a common rat. If it was killed, you would forget about it a second later.

However, while it was true that it was seen as the most useless piece, it did possess one special ability that none of the other pieces had that made it unique. If placed deep enough into the enemy's territory, it would be promoted to where it could turn into any piece that the player chose besides the King. It could even be promoted to a Queen, which was the strongest piece in the entire game.

Rios mauled over her thoughts as she continued to study the chess piece within her hand. Ever since Issei had transferred into Kuoh Academy, Rias simply couldn't get him out of her mind. She had sensed a great power that was growing inside of him that she had never felt before yet there was something else about him that she couldn't place her finger on. And she didn't even know why. Sure there had been some interesting students who had come and gone once or twice but out of all of them, he was the one who interested her the most. Was it his looks? His personality? His attitude?

No. It was his eyes.

In all her years of living (which was a really long time), Rias had never seen colored eyes more mysterious yet so beautiful like his. Emerald green just like her own mixed with a dark hue of purple. Almost like they were pieces of stained glass she had seen on the outside of Churches that told a story completely unknown to her or anyone around him. Usually you can tell what a person was like just by looking into their eyes but no matter how hard she had looked she had never really gotten a full tale. Only brief words and a few sentences here and there. And within those sentences she was only barely able to make out vague feelings of sadness, pain, indifference, and anger. Yet she could not tell why they were even there in the first place.

She had also been able to catch a glimpse of something that had honestly sent a cold shiver of fear up her spine. Something that made her think of a decision she almost regretted.

After two weeks of attending Kuoh Academy, Rias had gone to Sona and told her that she wanted to make Issei a new member of her presage by choosing him as the Pawn piece, yet the reply she got from Sona had confused her. She said that it may not work no matter how many pieces she used and that even Mutation Pieces wouldn't work and that she had deduced that Issei was simply far too powerful to be transformed into a Devil.

At first she didn't believe it, stating that Sona was only telling her this so she could have Issei all to herself, but as time went on she began to see what Sona was trying to tell her. Issei's power was growing and there was a very high chance that he wouldn't indeed be able to turn into a Devil, which had slightly upset her since she was very eager to have a powerful ally on her side. But now, all that seemed like a wild fantasy.

With a depressed sigh, Rias set the chess piece back on the board and got up to go apologize to Sona until a bright light suddenly appeared behind her and illuminated the entire inside of the building. Rios quickly spun around and looked down on the floor before scowling in anger after seeing a familiar dark-yellow magical circle placed on the floor. After a few moments a bright silhouette materialized out of the circle before both disappeared completely, revealing a familiar blonde haired male dressed in a red burgundy blazer along with red slacks and black dress shoes.

Doing her best to keep her growing anger in check, Rias simply gave the man one of the most heated glares that she could muster while clenching her fists at her sides.

"What are _you_ doing here, _Riser_?" she spoke with a high amount of venom in her tone while continuing to burn a hole through the man with her glare.

Riser Phenex completely ignored the glare that his (forced) future wife was giving him and instead sent her a smug smirk in return while placing his hands on his chest in a mock injury. "Why Rias, you harm me with your cold, cold words. And after all this time I thought you would be happy to see your beloved fiancé."

_***Slap* **_

Riser flinched after being caught off guard from the unexpected slap from Rias, who was now standing in front of him with an even greater glare than before while retracting her hand away from his face.

"Cut the act, Riser. I told you before that I will _not_ marry you. And I know you're simply not here for an unwelcomed reunion. Now spit it out and tell me why it is you're _really_ here."

Riser scowled as he rubbed the side of his face before looking back at Dias with a glare of his own.

"Hmph. Fine then. Since you're so eager to hear, I'll tell you. The reason I am here is because I am looking for that brat who holds all of that unusual power. The one you know as Issei Hyoudou."

This sudden statement hit Rias like a ton of bricks as she widened her eyes and gaped her mouth in shock before taking a few steps back, putting some distance between her and Riser.

"I-Issei!? What do you want with him!?" she yelled in anger and confusion.

* * *

><p><em><strong>A few miles from the school, same time<strong>_

Issei scratched a nagging itch on his back as he walked home from the nearby forest. The sky was a neat dark-blue as the moon began to rise out of the horizon, showing that it was a few hours away from night. Just like he had been doing the past couple of days, Issei had spent another two hours of blowing up trees and rocks with his newly acquired Boosted Gear, while occasionally being aided with some tips and tricks from Ddraig and Miraak, while Alex simply stayed quiet and occasionally made one or two snarky comments every once and awhile.

During his training with his Sacred Gear, he had also spent some time on honing his Blacklight and Mark abilities, sometimes even combing them with the Boosted Gear to get even better results. Results that he was indeed, not disappointed with.

Since he was able to double his power every ten seconds, he deduced that he should be able to double his abilities' powers as well. As such, he would simply activate the dragon gauntlet on one arm while equipping his Blacklight on the other. One tip that Miraak had gave him was that he should try to charge as much power into the gauntlet as he could and then transfer it into his other arm. With the new idea in mind, Issei had morphed his right arm into a blade and charged his Gear up to twenty 'Boosts' before transferring it into the blade.

What he saw next almost made him piss himself with excitement.

What was once a normal, six-foot long arm blade covered in red and black veins was now a large, eight- long, crimson-red clever blade that was covered in black dragon scales with glowing red centers. The blade itself seemed a lot sharper than before and Issue was able to test this theory after successfully slicing a large boulder cleanly in half without any resistance whatsoever. Almost as if he was cutting straight through water.

He had also been able to give his Mark abilities a great boost in power as well. One example being his Hermaeus Rift ability. With the added boosts his Red Dragon Gauntlet gave him, he was now able to summon up to twenty tentacles at once with each tentacle escalating at a height of over thirty feet tall, along with the tentacles gaining their own unique features such as spikes, poison, jaws filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth and much, _much_, more.

God help the person who even _attempted_ to piss him off.

So, after a few joyful and ecstatic hours of practicing with his Sacred Gear and other abilities, we now find our main protagonist walking on the sidewalk in the peaceful moonlit night towards his home while silently conversing with his inner tenants through his mind.

'_Ddraig, not trying to sound weird or anything but I fuckin' love you man! Thanks to this Gear that you gave me, along with my other powers from Miraak and Alex, there's no way in hell that anyone in their right mind would ever come close to screwing with me. I only wish I had someone to test it on though…'_ Issei said to his inner dragon as he joyfully walked home with a skip in his step.

_**{Think nothing of it, partner. I am merely thankful to have gained a host who actually knows what he is doing and not using the Gear as a mere tool of destruction or weapon of war. Though I too am curious as to how you plan on using it in battle.} **_spoke Ddraig with a hint of pride for his new host.

'_Isn't it obvious? I'll just use the Gear to boost the abilities I already have while I simply dominate everyone and everything that gets in my way. Simple as that.'_

_**(Do not be foolish Issei.) **_said Miraak with a disapproving tone. _**(You may have gained something that makes your abilities stronger, however that does not mean that you are invincible. Do not be so quick to feel satisfied just because you have gained a little aide in advance.) **_

_**[He's right kid. Don't think so high and mighty of yourself.] **_said Alex sounding more angry than usual. _**[If there's one thing I hate in any sort of world, it's people who think they're hot shit just 'cause they have something to do the work for them. Just because you have fancy gauntlet that doubles your power doesn't mean that you're god. So quick acting like it.]**_

Issei, feeling both embarrassed and ashamed for speaking so highly of himself, simply hung his head in shame after being scolded by his two friends/teachers. _'You're right. Sorry guys. I'm just really excited that I have something that'll make me stronger. I didn't mean to let it go to my head.'_

_**(Just remember Issei: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. If you let your pride get too high, it will only lead to a greater downfall.) **_said Miraak referencing a passage from the Holy Book.

_**[Yeah, what he said.] **_grunted Alex while simply going along with it.

Issei only continued to hang his head as he walked underneath the night sky. _'Lime I said guys, I'm sorry. I'm just really eager to kick some ass with all these new powers it's driving me cra-'_

Issei suddenly stopped walking and shot his head up with wide eyes as he felt a strange yet chilling sensation that engulfed his entire body and sent several chills up his spine. Whatever it was that he was feeling at the moment was definitely not a good sign. Almost as if something bad were about to happen…

But just as soon as it came, the strange feeling suddenly disappeared, allowing Issei to regain control of his body and causing him to whirl his head around in different directions in order to find the source of the sensation.

'_What the hell was that!?'_ Issei yelled in his mind as he continued to search while getting ready to fight encase of any incoming danger. _'It felt like my entire body was frozen solid for about three seconds, then it just suddenly disappeared. Ddraig, Miraak, Alex, you guys feel it too?'_

_**{We did Issei, and you're not going to like it. I'm currently sensing the presence of about three Devils a few miles from our location. Except they're not heading towards us…} **_said Ddraig with an edgy tone with a mix of confusion.

_**(Issei! I was able to get a further analysis on the three Devils, they're at your house!)**_ yelled Miraak in alarm.

Issei's eyes were now wide open in shock and fear at the information he had just received. _'Shit! Mom and Dad!'_ he yelled in his mind before breaking off into a full sprint towards his house.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Occult Research Building<strong>_

"Answer me Riser! What is it you want with Issei!?" yelled Rias as she continued to glare hatefully at the Phenex spawn.

To say that Rias was shocked would have been a complete understatement. In all honesty, she had absolutely no idea what a Devil like Riser Phenex would want with a simple boy like Issei. In fact, she didn't even have any idea how he even knew of Issei's existence in the first place. Sure, the tremendous power that he leaked did attract lots of attention but she never thought that Riser, who barely traveled to the human world in the first place, would've been able to find him so easily.

But if he was a part of something that involved Issei, then it obviously wasn't good.

Riser only scowled in response to Rias' demanding for an answer and simply crossed his arms. "You and I both know Rias that that pathetic human holds a great power within him that has the possibility to surpass one of the Great Satans, maybe even all four if it continues to keep growing. I merely thought it was a hoax at first. A simple fluctuation from the Ouroborus Dragon or Great Red himself. But for the past seventeen years, that power has not diminished one bit, but has rather gotten stronger. Imagine the torture I went through when I had to continuously sit and watch as that mysterious power kept growing day by day. To simply learn that there is something out there besides the two Dragon Gods that is more powerful than the great Phenex Clan, which is supposed to be one of the most prestigious clans in the whole Underworld! It was unbearable!" he said as he rubbed his temples in frustration and anger. Though the anger quickly formed into a smug smirk as Riser stared into Rias' confused eyes. "But then I soon asked myself, why not test this theory for myself? Why don't I just prove to everyone that this power is nothing more than an illusion? And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Rias' anger never left her eyes but they still held a mild amount of confusion at Riser's ending statement. "But I still don't understand! Why _exactly_ do you want Issei!?"

Riser's smirk soon returned to its annoyed scowl as he shook his head at Rias' stupidity. "Isn't it obvious Rias? I'm going to fight him."

Rias' eyes practically popped out of her skull in total shock at Riser's sudden declaration. "WHAT!?"

"That's right." Said Riser in smug satisfactory. "As we speak, my servants are at his house where they will 'convince' the brat to go to the Underworld. In about an hour, every single Devil in the Underworld will see me mop the floor with his blood and I'll be able to prove once and for all that he is nothing more than a weakling who should learn to know his place. And that no matter how special he seems, he will always be below the might of the Devils."

Rios put all of her anger in hate into the biggest glare she could muster and directed it all towards Riser along with a low growl and the clenching of her teeth. "Riser… when my brother hears about this-"

"Don't even try threatening me Rias." Riser haughtily countered. "After all, who do you think gave me permission to host this little event?"

"W-What!?" Rias exclaimed in great shock in confusion while widening her eyes once again. "There's no way my brother would-"

"Oh on the contrary Rias, Lord Sirzechs was more than willing to let me do this. He was even interested in seeing the brat in action for himself. The fight will be held in the Phenex duel arena. Every High-Class Devil and their servants will be attending and will watch as I completely burn the little human to ashes!"

"B-But he may not even know that he has the power to begin with! You can't just fight him if he has no knowledge of it in the first place!"

"Hn. Fortunately, that's not my problem. Whether if he knows or not doesn't matter to me. What matters is that I can finally show everyone that a mere human can never obtain this much power and that all they ever will be are the garbage beneath our shoes. Farewell Rias. I do hope you plan on coming so that you can see me utterly destroy the brat."

And with that, the highly arrogant Riser Phenex activated his magical circle and transmitted away, leaving Rias to stand frozen still in shocked silence in the middle of her club room while still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation.

'_I-It doesn't make sense!'_ she yelled in her mind. _'Why the hell would Nii-sama agree to something so preposterous!? Even if he does know about his power, there's no way that Issei can beat someone like Riser!'_ she shook her head in order to try to get all of the worry out of her and instead hardened her eyes in a fierce look of determination. _'I need to go see Sona about this.' _She said before she turned around and made her way towards the Student Council office in order to ask her longtime friend for assistance.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hyoudou Residence, a few minutes earlier <strong>_

Kazane Hyoudou sighed in in happiness as she washed the dishes while waiting for her only son to return. Her husband Ibiki while silently reading the local newspaper on the nearby couch with his legs crossed as the television echoed the sounds of some random show throughout the background.

It had been over five years since the Hyoudou family had moved to the city of Kuoh and it had so far been the best decision of their lives. After countless times of switching to different locations in order for their son to get a good education but to also try to live a happy life. The earlier years had been nothing but absolute torture and hell for their young son and would've had to continue further if it were not for the transfer and large raise Ibiki had gotten at his job. Because of that, the family were once again able to move and had finally settled into a peaceful community where their son was not only able to further his education, but had also been able to gain some friends along the way, which was something that Issei had no success in doing whatsoever due to being bullied most of his life. But now, as if God had finally answered their prayers, Issei no longer had any more problems with bullies and was now able to make plenty of friends who hung out with him almost every day. The sudden change in her son's life had brought tears of joy to Kazane's eyes.

Now it was the middle of winter and Issei was able to get transferred into one of Kuoh's most prestigious schools for his second year. Besides having to constantly hear her son complying about how boring it was, she was just glad that he was able to go to a school where he _wasn't_ harassed on a daily basis.

_*DING DONG* _

"I'll get it, dear." Kazane said as Ibiki paused in his movement to get up, who simply shrugged and sat back down once again to read the paper. Kazane quickly cleaned off the last plate before placing it in the sink and making her way towards the front door. After opening the door, she widened her eyes when she saw that there were three females that looked about the same age as her son who were all wearing the strangest attire she had ever seen.

The first girl in the middle was of average height with blue-green eyes and long black hair that two Chinese-styled buns on each side of her head while some of her bangs reached across her forehead. She wore a _very_ revealing outfit that consisted of a blue Chinese Qipao with gold trimmings that was a v-neck that revealed a good amount of her cleavage. She also had a large white sash that was wrapped tightly around her waist along with two black armbands around her arms and a pair of black low-heeled shoes.

The girl on her left had bright blue hair that was tied into four ponytails with two of the four ponytails curving up while the other two curved down. Her outfit consisted of a short white haori with a dark red sash tied around her waist all under a large red open coat. She also wore a pair black gloves along with white bandages that were wrapped firmly around her legs with a pair of white socks and brown sandals. She was also wielding a large brown staff.

The last girl on the right had long light brown hair that was covered by a white headpiece with two black ties along two of her bangs that hung on the sides of her head, framing her face perfectly. She also wore two black bracelets that were on each of her wrists along with two black combat boots.

"Excuse me miss." Said the girl in the middle with a soft yet firm voice. "Is Issei Hyoudou here at the moment?"

Kazane was snapped out of her stupor after observing the three girls in their strange attires and looked at them with a confused expression. _'How do they know Issei lives here? Are they friends of his?'_ she asked herself. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid he's not here right now. Are you friends of his from school?"

"No, we're not." Said the girl with narrowed eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. "But our master has ordered us to find and bring Issei Hyoudou to him by any means necessary. So I'm afraid that you and your husband will be coming with us."

Kazane's eyes widened with shock and a little bit of fear. "What are you talking abou-AHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hyoudou Residence, ten minutes later<strong>_

_*CRASH*_

"MOM, DAD! YOU GUYS HERE!?"

A loud crash echoed throughout the entire house as Issei kicked the front door straight open. Once he was inside, he looked in horror once he saw that the various pictures and Knick-Knacks that were hung on the hallway walls were knocked onto the floor followed by a couple of scratched and dents that were littered across the walls and floor. With intense speed, Issei sprinted down the hallway and into the kitchen where his sense of dread only increased after he saw that the kitchen was in no fairer shape than the hallway. Broken dishes and glasses were littered along the counters and the floor along with some chairs that were toppled over. Hell there was even a broken window near one of the couches! The whole place looked as if someone had forcefully broken into his home except nothing looked like it had been stolen.

He was about to go search the rest of the house until he suddenly spotted something laying on the kitchen table. On closer inspection, he saw that it was a folded piece of paper along with another piece of paper that had a strange black circular symbol on it. He disregarded the second piece and focused his attention on the folded piece. He picked it up and unfolded where it was revealed to be a note. _'Probably from the assholes that did this'_ he thought angrily before he started reading.

_Issei Hyoudou_

_Yes, I know who you are and frankly it is none of your concern. _

_What is more important is that I now have your pathetic parents held hostage within my home and will not hesitate to burn their miserable corpses off the face of the earth unless you do exactly as I instruct. Next to this note is another piece of paper that contains a symbol. That symbol will transport you directly to my home where you and I will meet face to face. All you have to do is apply a single drop of blood to the symbol and it will do the rest. If you are not here within one hour, your parents will be nothing but a pile of ashes and I will hunt you down myself and kill you. _

_I advise you to head this warning Issei Hyoudou, because I have no room for patience. _

_~ R.P. _

Not a single sound was heard throughout the entire house as Issei stood as still as a statue with the letter still within his firm grasp with his fist clenching tighter and tighter as he re-read the letter. Neither Ddraig, Miraak, or Alex said a single word as tried to calm himself from his murderous thoughts, which was failing miserably.

Within Issei's mind, the three inner tenants could only watch as the inner library shook with tremendous tremors due to Issei's barely contained rage that was even making Alex a bit antsy. The dark sky above soon turned into a dark blood red as crimson clouds suddenly manifested just above the libraries shelves. Suddenly a large _'BOOM'_ resonated throughout the entire area as tiny droplets of liquid started pouring out of the clouds and onto the ground below, including the three tenants.

Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion under his hood as the droplets of mysterious liquid continued to trickle down from the crimson clouds. He brought up his arm and opened his hand in order to catch some of the liquid and brought it up to his mouth where he licked it clean off. His eyebrows scrunched up in further confusion as looked at his hand and saw that it had faint faces of red on it from where the liquid was.

"**What is it?"** asked Miraak from the side as he stared at Alex through his mask with his arms crossed. Behind him was Ddraig who was laying on the ground with his arms and legs crossed and his wings folded up while silently looking at the sky.

Alex quietly observed his hand as more of the liquid dripped from the clouds above before looking at Miraak with a knowing yet troubled frown.

"It's blood." He said with a low voice before looking back up at the red sky. "It's raining blood."

Back on the outside, Issei had already ripped the letter to pieces and was now holding the paper with the symbol on it while holding a kitchen knife in the other. A look of pure hatred and murder was plastered on his face as he glared at the symbol, as if trying to burn a hole through it. _'When I find the bastard who did this, I'm going to slowly rip him apart piece by piece. Then I'm going to feed each of those pieces to the Hounds while the Flies of Bo'laggoroth drink his blood by the swarm.' _

_**(Issei, I know that you are angry but you need to calm yourself or-) **_

'_Miraak, I was angry when those bullies made my life hell for three years straight. I was even more angry when my first grade teacher molested me when I was seven. But now… now I'm probably more passed off than I ever have been in my entire life. There is absolutely no way in hell that I can even come _close _to calming down until I see that asshole's corpse being swallowed whole by my Hermaeus Rift.' _And with that, Issei brought the knife up to his wrist and in one smooth motion, he sliced the veins beneath his skin where a small pool of blood formed on his skin before the cut instantly healed a second later due to his Blacklight. He then dripped the blood onto the paper where a bright light suddenly erupted from the symbol and temporarily blinded Issei.

A few moments later the house was completely deserted, except for the lone sound of the paper hitting the floor.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Underworld, Phenex Arena <strong>_

A bright flash emanated in the middle of a stone floor as Issei groggily rubbed the blur out of his eyes before focusing on where he was. He looked around and saw that he was in the middle of some sort of large stone arena that was surrounded by stone carvings of what looked like giant chess pieces. The sky above was also a dark blue in which Issei assumed was night time, wherever the hell he was.

"Ah, it looks like you've made it." A voice said from the sidelines. Issei turned his head and narrowed his eyes dangerously as he saw a blonde haired guy wearing a red tuxedo and slacks approach him with an arrogant smirk on his face and his hands in his pockets. "Hmph, so this is the great Issei Hyoudou I've been hearing so much about. I must say, you look even weaker in person. Such a shame too, I was hoping for a good fight."

Up in one of the many stands, Sirzechs Lucifer, his wife Grayfia, and many other High-Class Devils watched in silent anticipation for finally being able to see who holds the mysterious power they've been feeling all these years yet slight disappointment when they saw that it was held within a young, scrawny-looking teenage human boy who looked like he couldn't harm a fly. But Sirzechs was not so easily fooled, as he knew that looks could be easily deceiving. He wasn't given the title Lucifer for nothing.

In the Occult Research Building, Rias, along with her peerage and the entire Student Council were watching through TV screens they conjured up using magic. Out of all the Devils present, Rias was the most worried. She still couldn't believe that her older brother had let Riser gone and done something so stupid and foolish. Simply challenging to fight Issei because of his own arrogance and a power that Issei didn't even know he had. And now because of that power, there was a huge chance that Issei could die. And it was all Riser's fault.

Back in the arena, Issei directed all of his murderous intent through a glare that seemed hot enough to melt even the strongest metal and sent it flying towards Riser, who seemed to only shiver slightly under his intense gaze.

"Listen you blonde-haired asshole, I'm in no mood to be fucked with right now, so give me back my parents and I _might_ let you leave with all of your limbs attached to your body." Issei growled in low threatening voice that would make the Devil himself run in terror.

In turn, Riser only scowled deeply at the insult and sent his own burning glare towards Issei. "Such an impudent little brat. Do you even know who I am? I am Riser Phenex! Second son of the noble Phenex Clan! The most powerful family in the Underw-"

_***SMACK***_

That was all Riser was able to say before he was brutally punched in the face with such force that he flew backwards at a blinding speed and smashed right into through the concrete wall that surrounded the entire arena.

Gasps could be heard echoing throughout the surrounding stands as every Devil that were watching the event take place, including those at the Occult Research Building, widened their eyes and drop their jaws in complete shock after witnessing what seemed like a normal human boy actually _punch_ a High-Class Devil with inhuman force through a wall. Even Sirzechs could not help but stare disbelieving at the boy who simply held out his fist and glared at the hole that he sent Riser flying through.

Suddenly a large ball made completely out of fire shot out from behind the wall and straight towards Issei. After years of constant training with his abilities, Issei was able to quickly side step and evade the ball of fire just as it was about to make contact.

"YOU INSOLENT BRAT! YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR THAT!" yelled an infuriated male voice. Issei hooked up and was surprised to Riser flying in the air with wings made of pure fire. He was currently holding the left half of his face where Issei had punched him that was somehow regenerating using flames that actually came from within his body, as if he was made of the stuff. His scowl had only become fiercer and was now clenching his teeth while directing all his own anger through a half of a glare.

Issei however, was having none of it and pointed his finger up at Riser. "I don't give a damn who you are or what god-forsaken family of abominations you come from! GIVE ME BACK MY PARENTS RIGHT NOW BEFORE I GAUGE OUT YOUR EYEBALLS AND RIP OUT YOUR ORGANS THROUGH THE SOCKETS!"

Suddenly the entire area began to tremble slightly after Issei had made his gory declaration. As if something was causing the ground shake beneath their feat, which had startled most of the Devils present and made Sirzechs wonder if this whole thing was such a good idea in the first place.

Riser however was completely unaffected. Mostly because he was flying, but also because the Underworld was known for having slight earthquakes (or in this case, _Hellquakes_) every now and then, so he simply brushed in off.

"Hmph, out of the question brat. You see, we've known a lot about you for quite some time. Ever since that enormous power fluctuation seventeen years ago we have been watching and waiting to find out who or what held that strange power. And not just us Devils, the Angels and Fallen Angels have all taken notice of the mysterious power you have possessed and have been interested to know as well, hell I wouldn't be surprised if even a few Gods have sensed it as well. Our curiosity only peaked as the power continued to grow and grow as each year passed, and you know what? It absolutely _infuriated _me. To know that there was something out there that was more powerful than a God made me so _angry_ that I just wanted to come up there and kill you myself. To show everyone that you were nothing but a mere illusion! I just simply had to figure out a way to get you to come to me. And what better way to do that then to capture your beloved parents!"

Before Issei could respond, a large screen suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of him and what he saw made him want to scream.

His parents were held in some sort of room that was surrounded in concrete walls and metal bars. The only score of light was from the nearby torches that were hanging on the walls.

But that wasn't what caught his attention.

His parents were laying on the cold and hard ground in the darkness of the cell. Their clothes were torn and their bodies were littered with numerous cuts, gashes and bruises, as if they were mercilessly beaten before being thrown into the cell. He could even see his dad's glasses, which were broken in half and had small holes in the specs. His mom's hair tie that she normally wore was nowhere to be seen and he could vaguely spot hints of blood that were stained on his mother's long brown hair. They just laid there on the ground, not moving a single inch. Almost as if they were beaten to death.

A single tear made its way down Issei's face before the apocalypse started.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: Hey guys, sorry I took so long to update. I've been busy playing video games and spending time with my family on Thanksgiving break. Plus I've been having a lot of homework lately so I haven't really had time for writing. But I'm here now and I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as I can so I hope you enjoyed this one and I'll see you all next time!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Hell Hath No Fury **

The ground shook and cracked as unbelievable tremors littered the entire arena as well as most of the entire Underworld. The sky above slowly turned from a crimson red into a deep midnight black while more clouds manifested above and began to swirl into a giant raging vortex, creating a single giant hole of complete darkness that glared down at the arena. The wind began to pick up speed as it blew almost hard enough to knock every Devil in the stands off their feet. Their hearts beat wildly inside of their chests as they began to rise from their seats and scamper around the isles of the stands in fear as the sudden storm continued to shake the entire Underworld. Even the most strong-hearted and brave-minded higher class Devils were receiving heavy chills that crawled down their spines.

_***BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM***_

Every Devil in the arena froze within their tracks and looked up into the sky, only to gape their mouths in complete shock and fear as large bolts of lightning began spewing out of the large hole within the vortex. Only what struck more fear and paranoia into the Devils was that the lighting was a green in color and seemed to only be striking one place instead of a bunch. Their gazes followed the lighting's trail and widened their eyes even further when they saw that it was literally striking the human boy that was standing motionless within the middle of the arena and didn't at all seemed be fazed in the slightest as the large bolts of green electricity continued to rain down on him, as if he was completely ignoring them.

Issei stood completely motionless as possible as he clenched his teeth and fists, so hard that a couple of his teeth began cracking under the high pressure while his knuckles turned bare white and his nails burrowed into his skin, causing a few drops of blood to drip from his hands. His head was down and his hair casting a shadow over his eyes. His entire body trembled in uncontrollable anger, rage, pain, and agony. But the one emotion that he felt the most was confusion.

Why were these peo…no, these _monsters_ doing this to him? Why had they kidnapped his parents, beat them to a bloody pulp, and throw them in a cell just to get to him? Why?! He hadn't done a single thing to any of them! SO WHY THE FUCK WERE THEY DOING THIS?! WAS IT JUST FOR FUN?! PLEASURE?! BOREDOM?! DIDTHEY ENJOY WATCHING INNOCENT PEOPLE SUFFER?!

As Issei continued to tremble in his barely contained rage, a black surge of energy began to ripple throughout his entire body. In contrast to the vortex, the energy began to slowly spiral around along with the energy from the green lighting that was still continuing to strike at his body from above. The energy from both forces only seemed to get stronger each minute as his anger kept growing. The Devils around him only seemed to fuel his burning rage as he began to conjure up over a thousand ways to brutally murder each and every single one of them.

Ripping off their heads and stomping them into paste.

Hanging them by their intestines.

Drowning them in their own blood.

Beating them to death with their own limbs.

Roasting them alive over an open fire.

Chaining them under boiling water.

VAPORIZING THEM IN ELECTRICITY.

DROWNING THEM IN HOLY WATER.

SCALPING THEM WITH A RUSTY KNIFE.

IMPALING THEM WITH SPEARS.

**RIPPING OUT THEIR HEARTS AND FEEDING THEM TO THE HOUNDS BECAUSE THEY DON'T DESERVE ANY! **

Deep under the shadows of his hair, Issei's eye colored changed into a deep void of dark while his pupils constricted and rearranged themselves to form a single biohazard symbol in each eye.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"** All of that anger finally took advantage of Issei's piled up emotions and caused him to throw his head back up and unleash a booming murderous scream that sent a shockwave all throughout the entire arena and forcing all of the Devils onto the ground. The black and green swirling mass that surrounded his body shot outwards and made the stone around him rip out of the ground and shoot off into the distance with intense speed and force.

Sirzechs, along with his wife Grayfia and the parents of Riser Phenex, Lord and Lady Phenex, had to hold on to their chairs and railings for dear life as the intense force from the wind and power surge had almost knocked them onto their backs. The power was so cold and murderous that they literally had to fight with all of their strength in order to breathe. That, along with having to continuously keep themselves from being forcefully pushed off of the building was the equivalent of a normal human trying to lift a car. It was almost too much for them to bare. If it wasn't for their enhanced strength and stamina, they most certainly would've been thrown back the second the force had hit them.

'_This isn't what I wanted to have happened! What have I done!?' _Sirzechs frantically and shamefully thought to himself as he continued to hold on for his life.

Riser wasn't fairing any better. In fact, you could say he was doing a lot worse at trying to keep himself from being killed due to being the closest one to Issei after he literally exploded from all the anger he unleashed. Since he was flying, he too had to continuously work to keep himself from being pushed back by the extreme force along with dodging any and all debris that flew towards his way.

'_J-Just what the he'll IS this kid?! How is it that a lowly human can hold THIS much power?!'_ Riser thought to himself in actual fear as he tried to keep himself from falling. Not that he would EVER admit it to anyone else, but for the first time in his long immortal life he was actually starting to regret a decision he had made. He never would have thought that fighting a human-no…_ thing _such as this boy would have been this difficult. All he wanted to do was to prove to everyone that the boy was nothing but a fake and that the Phenex Clan were still the top dogs, or _birds_, in the Underworld.

Yet all of that confidence and arrogance seemed to have come crumbling down in a single fowl swoop.

"**RISSSSSSSEEEEEEEERRRRR!"** At the call of his name, Riser looked down and saw that the human named Issei was glaring up at him with absolute murder in his green eyes and was pointing a single finger at him while still clenching his teeth. The energy the spun around him became even more fierce as Issei pointed at him. **"YOU AND YOU'RE LITTLE DEVIL FUCKERS MADE A BIG FUCKING MISTAKE WHEN YOU KIDNAPPED MY PARENTS AND BEAT THEM TO A BLOODY PULP! AND FOR WHAT?! SO YOU COULD SIMPLY TEST ME?! WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU, YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YOU NEVER FUCKING EXISTED!**

And with that declaration, the energy around Issei's body suddenly disappeared from existence as well as the constant strikes of lightning, leaving the entire arena submerged in complete silence.

But before anyone could utter a single word, a gigantic laser beam of green light suddenly shot out of the vortex in the sky and came crashing down with full force directly on top of Issei.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Space<strong>_

Azathoth hummed his thousand mouths at once in complete satisfaction as he felt the power of his earthly champion drastically rise all at once. All of the pent up anger that the human had kept within himself over his entire was all being released in a single moment. It was all coming together. There was only one more step to be taken before the human could unleash his ungodly fury upon the abominations of the earth's underworld.

"_**Li to'm ha's coo'm mon Chapin', ot bag'in ta'r tranklo'muzion." (The time has come my Champion, to begin your transformation.)**_ He said in his deep otherworld voice before a large black hole suddenly opened up before him, soon revealing an upward sky view of the earth's Underworld through the eye of the giant vortex that was swirling from above. Azathoth then slowly raised one of his tentacles up to the black hole, where a large sphere of green energy suddenly formed at the end. The sphere continued to grow in size until it was suddenly formed into a large beam of light that shot straight through the hole and down at the ground where the human boy was standing.

Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath silently watched the transaction from the sidelines as their Master shot the large beam of energy through the black hole and directly at the human boy. Just like their Master, they too had felt the enormous burst of energy the boy had unleashed during his temper tantrum, not that they could blame him for his actions of course. Even though they were both colossal-sized alien gods, that didn't mean they still didn't have those that were close to them, especially for Shub. If a single one of her thousand young were killed, she would have blown up over a dozen planets out of complete anger and rage. No doubt that was what the human boy was about to do to the entire Underworld.

Yet for some reason when she first felt the boy's large power influx, she couldn't but find a slight attraction towards him. Like the force of all his power was drawing her to him like some sort of gravitational pull. She couldn't understand why she was suddenly feeling like this, only that she had never felt it before in her entire eternity of living. Not even when she was mated with Yog did she ever feel like this. But one thing was for sure. She would have to keep a closer eye on this human from now on.

Yog didn't really have an opinion of him either way. Sure the boy was powerful but that was only because of their Master, and without that he would just be another human. And that's all that the boy was to him at the moment, a simple human with some potential that he neither liked nor hated. However, he also didn't miss the slight twitch in Shub's composure after sensing the human's energy, something that he never really saw her do. And that alone was questionable and made him _slightly _curious as to how the human could have affected Shub, who was said to be the strongest of all the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods.

Perhaps he too would need to keep a closer watch on the human as well.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Dimensional Gap<strong>_

Within the endless, colorful space of the Dimensional Gap, a large red dragon with a single horn on its snout casually flew with ease while occasionally performing one or two spins, front and backflips. Its mouth let out a low grumble in satisfaction as it glided with an almost lazy ease.

From a distance, a voluptuous young women wearing an all-black Gothic-Lolita along with a purple headband glared at the dragon through her dark emotionless eyes while her eyebrows furrowed slightly into that in annoyance and anger as she continued to watch the red winged lizard perform its usual assortments of tricks.

"Stupid Red" she grumbled quietly to herself in her slightly deep sultry voice, though apparently it wasn't quiet enough as the dragon suddenly halted in its flying and turned its long neck to glare right back at the woman with its large emerald green eyes. It made a deep noise which sounded like a huff and was about to return to its flying when it suddenly sensed a large force of power out of nowhere, which made the dragon crane its neck and look directly into the direction it was coming from.

"This power… where is it coming from?" the large dragon said in a deep voice as it continued to float within the Gap.

"It, is him." Spoke a female voice from right beside him, which made the dragon slightly jump in surprise and turnips head, where it was once again surprised to see the dark clothed woman floating next to him staring in the same direction that he once was.

"Ophis?" asked the dragon in a slight confused tone as he stared at the woman. Optus however, paid him absolutely no attention as she kept on staring at the endless space within the Gap.

"This energy… it is, from that boy, that I saw, many years ago." She said in her emotionless tone, though the large dragon was able to catch a _slight_ bit of concern in her voice, which only confused him further.

'_Boy?'_ thought the dragon as he kept staring at Ophis. Though after seeing no further movement or response from her, the dragon soon went back to continue its endless flying, leaving Ophis in her little trance-like state. Though it was strange that something like this suddenly caught Ophis' attention. As far as he knew, the Infinite Dragon God was never one to be interested in anything except living forever alone in its eternal silence within the Dimensional Gap. And even though the red dragon would never admit it, he too was also curious as to where that power was coming from and why it felt so cold and dark. Almost as if it had a killing intent in it. But whatever it was directed towards, he didn't know.

Though there was one thing that Great Red, the Apocalypse Dragon, and the True Red Dragon God Emperor did know: he _almost_ felt sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of that full frontal murderous assault.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Heaven<strong>_

"This power… it has become more powerful than before, and more destructive." Grunted Raphael as he, Michael, and Uriel tried to steady their breathing and maintain their composure as they too were affected by the tremendous force originating all the way from the Underworld.

Being high ranking Archangels and three of the seven guardians of the Throne of Heaven, they were normally used to coming into contact with any higher powers, yet this was on a much different level. It was unlike any of the three have ever sensed before. It was as if the Infinite Dragon God, Apocalypse Dragon, and Trihexia had combined together to form some sort of super God. And the fact that none of them knew where the power was coming from just made it worse.

"Those blasted Devils. They've really done it this time. I knew we should have finished them off as soon as we had the chance." Growled Raphael in one of his _rare_ moments of anger as he continued to hold himself against the sheer force of the Underworld. His anger quickly disappeared though as a hand was placed gently on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw that it was Uriel with a calm expression on his face, though Raphael could clearly see some trickles of sweat running down his head.

"Calm yourself my friend. It is not wise to act in such a manner at a time like this. For now we need to think of a strategic solution in order to bring an end to this madness."

"I agree." Said Michael nodding his head. "This is no time to be rash. We must find out what the Devils have done in order for this to happen. I propose that we gather a force of our strongest angels and go to the Underworld to see if we can't resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

"I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there, Michael." Said Uriel with a slight frown while shaking his head. "Traveling to the Underworld with a force of angels could very well be seen as an act of war. And war is something that we cannot afford to have once again."

"I understand your reasoning, Uriel, but whatever the Devils have done to unleash that much power in one place could be even more catastrophic than a war. Who or whatever holds that much power is directly on par with the Infinite Dragon God and the Apocalypse Dragon themselves. If we don't do something to end this quickly, then I'm afraid it might aim for Heaven next, or even the Earth. And both are definitely something we do not want to lose."

Uriel only lowered his head and closed his eyes in response. Although he didn't like it, there was logic within Michael's theory, and one being with enough power to not only destroy the entire Underworld but also Heaven and the Earth itself was indeed much worse than another war. So with some reluctance, he lifted his head and opened his eyes to stare into Michael's.

"You do seem to have a valid point my friend. Even though I still do not like it, it may as well be the only choice we have. So I'll agree to go along with it."

Michael in return smiled and patted Uriel on the shoulder. "Thank you Uriel. Now that it is settled, I believe I should go and-"

"Michael! Raphael! Uriel!" yelled a frantic voice from behind them. The three Archangels quickly turned around and saw a beautiful woman with a very voluptuous figure adorned in a female angelic outfit with long, curly blonde hair that reached down to her back along with a halo on top of her head as well as ten golden angel wings that protruded out of her back was running towards them. "Did you sense that enormous energy as well?" she asked in a gentle yet concerned voice as caught up to them.

The three other angels nodded their heads in confirmation while lifting their eyebrows up in surprise. "Gabriel, what are you doing here?" asked Michael in curiosity.

Gabriel, another one of the Archangels and guardians of the Throne of Heaven, as well as the most beautiful woman in Heaven and sister of Michael looked at her brother and two of her best friends with concern written all over her angelic face as she placed a hand over her well-developed chest. "This energy… it's so vast and overwhelming, and also very dark. But I can also sense great amounts of pain and suffering, and it worries me greatly." She said the last part in a sad tone while looking at the ground with an expression of great sadness.

The three other Archangels looked at her with eyes wide in great surprise. They knew that Gabriel was the best at sensing emotions and specific energies within any being out of all the angles, yet they did not know that she could detect so many painful emotions in this energy that nobody could figure out.

"We are worried just as much as you are, Gabriel." Said Raphael in a reassuring tone. "Before you arrived, we had just come to a conclusion on what we should do. It just so happens that the three of us, along with a force of our strongest angels will be going down to the Underworld in order to try to bring an end to this situation."

Gabriel's expression soon changed as she stared at her friend in surprise before setting her sights on her brother. "I'm going with you." She suddenly said, which made Raphael and Uriel widened their eyes in shock but caused Michael to only shake his head in disagreement.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Gabriel. The situation is critical enough as it is, and we cannot afford to send any more of our forces as we already are. Me, Raphael, and Uriel will be able to handle it ourselves, but you will need to remain here to support our remaining forces should an attack on Heaven present itself."

"I care for our home and our angels just as much as you do Michael, but you are still my only brother and Raphael and Uriel are two of my best friends. Besides Uriel, I am the best healer in all of the realm of Heaven, I couldn't bare it if any of you got hurt and I wasn't there to help you. I'm going whether you want me to or not." Said Gabriel firmly with a rare determination in her eyes.

"Gabriel-"

"Actually Michael, I would be more than happy to let Gabriel go in my place while I remain here." said Uriel, much to the surprise of Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

"Are you sure Uriel?" asked Michael.

"I did not really like the idea of going to the Underworld in the first place. And you said yourself, Heaven is going to need all the angels it can get invade of an impending attack, and I am the best healer here after all. I have complete faith that Gabriel will be able to do just as much good as I can, if not more." He said with a bit or pride, which made a warm smile crawl unto Gabriel's face as she hugged the Archangel.

"Thank you, Uriel. That means a lot to me." She said quietly, while Uriel simply smiled and hugged her back.

"It's my pleasure, my dear. Now the three of you best hurry. There's no telling what is happening down there and I would for this to end as quickly as possible."

"Agreed." Said Michael nodding once more. "As I was saying before, Raphael should go and gather the warrior angels before meeting Gabriel and I at the main gate. Uriel, you will be in charge while I'm gone. And make sure you inform Chamuel, Jophiel, and Zadkiel of the situation as well. I don't want them worrying too much while we're gone."

Uriel nodded before taking a low bow to Michael. "It shall be done, my friend. Good luck, and be safe. You as well Gabriel, Raphael." And with that he took his leave and walked out of the Throne room. As soon as he was gone, Raphael turned back towards the angel siblings. "I will go and rally our warriors. We will meet by the gates in an hour." After that he too left the Throne room, leaving the siblings to talk amongst themselves.

"I hope we aren't too late." Gabriel quietly said to herself with her voice once aging filling with worry, though Michael was clearly able to hear her.

"As do I Gabriel, as do I." said Michael as he went back to looking out of the Throne room's balcony.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Azazel's Warehouse<strong>_

Just like in Heaven and the Underworld, the Fallen Angels of Earth had also sensed the tremendous spike in Issei's energy, and it unnerved them quite a bit.

Deep within the warehouse, Azazel, along with Kalawarner, Raynare, Mittelt, and Dohnaseek were all seated along a table in a large room. Azazel was simply leaning his head on his arm with his eyes closed with a troubled expression on his face, though to the rest it looked like he was sleeping. Kalawarner sat on his right, her entire body slightly shaking due to the enormous pressure, Raynare was on his left and was trying to steady her breathing, Dohnaseek was on Raynare's right and was literally sweating up a storm. He was so hot that he had to take off his trench coat, which was a big surprise to everyone else in the room, even to Azazel since he never took it off no matter how hot it was. Mittelt however was the worst of all four. She was sitting up against the wall while her body trembled even more than Kalawarner's and she looked as though she was a bout to cry. A few tears had escaped her bright blue eyes and one or two quick sobs would occasionally escape her lips, though she made sure that no one would hear.

A heavy silence filled the entire room as no one even made an attempt to say a single word. They were all too preoccupied into trying to calm themselves from the large pressure that was building up from the power outburst down in the underworld. Whatever the Devils did would no doubt cause trouble in the future. And that was something they couldn't have.

A sudden noise brought everyone out of their stupor as they looked up to see Azazel getting out of his seat and making his way towards the exit. But before he could reach it, Raynare's voice made him stop.

"L-Lord Azazel? Where are you going?" she asked as her face continued to sweat.

Azazel simply stood silently rooted in his spot with his back towards the four fallen angels and his hands in his pockets. A few minutes passed by before he finally answered. "I want you four to clean yourselves up. Then I want you to gather some of our guards before meeting me in front of the warehouse. We're going to the Underworld to see just what the hell's going on." He said in an almost demanding tone before walking out the front door, leaving the four other angels to simply gawk in surprise. They had never heard Azazel speak in such a manner as he just did, so this must have been serious enough to draw out that side of them.

With one last glance at each other, the four angels quickly regained their composure before complying with their Master's orders. While they themselves were wondering just what was going on.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Underworld<strong>_

The entire Underworld shook even harder than before as the enormous beam of green light continued to shoot through the vortex and into the ground below, directly on top of Issei Hyoudou. It was almost too much for everyone witnessing the event as no one had ever seen anything so tremendous in their immortal lives. The mere sight of the giant pillar of green life was enough to take every single Devil's breath away.

As the ground beneath him continued to shake, Riser was trying to figure just what had transpired in the last hour. When he first came here, the human brat couldn't even form a good insult that was worth the dirt beneath his shoes, now it seemed like the kid had enough power to be on par with the Infinite Dragon God itself, maybe even the Apocalypse Dragon at the same time, and that was something that only made him angrier. To know that there was a mere human who was just as powerful as a God was enough to send him over his boiling point.

He was going to burn this human. And he was going to do it _very_ slowly.

_***SWOOOOOOOOOSH***_

Riser, along with every other Devil in the area looked in shock, relief, and confusion as the large beam of light suddenly disappeared out of nowhere along with the large vortex of clouds that was covering the entire sky. The sky's color soon returned to its normal hue of dark red and the tremors in the earth had soon stopped, leaving nothing but a wary silence to fill around the Phenex mansion. The arena, if it could even be called that anymore, was in complete ruins. The surrounding walls were reduced to nothing but ash and gravel, the stone floor was completely torn up as pieces of rock and land were littered all over the place. Even the Phenex mansion itself had its fair share of holes, scratches, dents, and gashes. Even a few stray pieces from the arena had managed to lodge themselves into the mansion's walls and windows.

What caught everyone's attention though was a large crater directly in the center of the arena that was covered in a thick cloud of smoke. So think that no one could see through it.

_***woooosh***_

A sudden wind caught the Devils by surprise as it blew through the arena with a light wisp. They were at least thankful that it was nowhere near as strong as it was a while ago but it was still strong enough to blow the remaining smoke out of the crater.

What they saw within it however, would be forever burned within their memories.

Instead of the human boy, who they thought was completely vaporized by the beam, standing there within the center of the crater as still as a statue was what could only be described as a demon. It was over a foot taller than Riser, at least seven feet high. Instead of two arms, it now had six with two on each side of its torso that reached all the way down to its knees while its hands were now sharp claws. It had long, skinny yet firmly built legs while claws were also seen at its feet, completely replacing the toes, with an extra claw growing on the left foot's right side and right foot's left side. Its chest, back, upper arms and upper legs were as white as snow while its lower arms and lower legs were completely pitch black, though if one were to look closer, they could clearly make out a bunch of pulsating veins that were glowing a bright red within the black parts of its limbs. At the center of its chest was a medium-sized black circle that also had some sort of black tribal marking that grew out from the circle and extended all throughout the white parts of the creatures limbs. Two giant bat wings that were also laced with red veins were protruding out of the creatures back and extended about five feet on each side of its body. The line of its mouth was now completely replaced with a row of pure white razor-sharp teeth that extended all the way up to its nose. Its eyes were a deep hue of green with a black outline of a biohazard symbol replacing the pupils. Below its eyes were two rough lines of black that went down to its mouth, looking like someone had cried while wearing black eyeliner. One each side of its temples was a single jagged black horn that grew in a direct upwards motion, except the right horn was a few inches taller than the left. Its most bizarre feature however, was its hair. Instead of tiny strands of fiber, where now literally hundreds of small dark green, almost black tentacles that were each single in a wild wave like motion in each and every direction. Almost like the mythological creature Medusa except the snakes were replaced by tentacles.

All in all, the once human boy was now replaced by a full-fledged demon.

Riser and the other Devils stared in awe, fear, and disgust at the monster as it continued to stand motionless within the crater, not doing so much as blinking or twitching, but what did chill them to the core was that it was staring directly at Riser, not once looking anywhere else for a second.

Riser stared right back at the beast with his eyes wide and his lips quivering, almost like he was ready to cry. But instead or shedding tears, he did something that not even the Devils expected: he started laughing. Laughing like a madman.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SO THIS IS YOUR TRUE FORM IS IT ISSEI HYOUDOU?! AFTER ALL THIS TIME YOU FINALLY DECIDE TO SHOW YOUR TRUE SELF! HOW INVIGURATING! I MUST SAY THOUGH IT IS TRULY I SIGHT TO BEHOLD! NEVER WOULD I HAVE IMAGINED THAT YOU WERE LITERALLY THIS UGLY AND ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING TO LOOK AT! IT'S AS IF THE VERY THING THAT CREATED YOU SIMPLY CHEWED YOU UP AND SPAT YOU OUT AND SAID 'THERE, ALL DONE'! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The way he laughed sent shiver of slight fear down the other Devils' spines as well as anger and annoyance to Sirzechs. He was about to get up and call out to Riser, only he stopped as soon as he saw the transformed Issei suddenly move.

In a single movement, the demon Issei raised a single one of his long arms and pointed its clawed figure directly at Riser, who stopped laughing and was now look back at Issei with a simple raised eyebrow. After a twitched of its toothed mouth, the demon then spoke in a deep, echoing voice.

"_**Be'mun ta" (Behind you)**_

Riser however didn't understand a single bit of it. "What was that?" he asked.

"_**Be'mun ta" **_it repeated.

Riser still didn't understand what it said but he turned his head to see whatever the demon was pointing at.

_***Bzzzzzt* **_

Only to quickly turn his head back around after hearing a sudden buzzing sound and was shocked to find that the demon had just disappeared out of nowhere.

"What the fu-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain as a giant metal blade was impaled straight through his chest. His regenerative abilities kicked in immediately and was about to try to escape until a large clawed hand suddenly grabbed his entire face and started squeezing. No matter how much he moved or thrashed he couldn't seem to escape from the deadly vice grip that he was trapped in. He could hardly even breathe as the large palm completely covered his mouth and nose. More intense pain suddenly made its way onto his face as the large metal claws began to burrow themselves into Riser's face, the worst part was that he couldn't even scream do to his mouth being covered. The claws continued to sink into his face until they were suddenly ripped free, drawing a line of blood and flame.

"GAAAAHHHHH! YOU LITTLE- **GET OFF ME!" **Riser screamed at the top of his lungs before concentrating on his flames and shooting scorching hot Hell-Fire out of his back. The sudden rise in heat caused the demon to retract his blade arm out of Riser's chest and teleporting a good distance away from the Phenex child, who was bent over and grabbing his chest and face in extreme pain. His regenerative abilities were working full force, yet that didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

Once the regeneration was complete, Riser stood back up and glared murderously at the demon who was simply looking back at him with its usual neutral expression, still not even blinking once. With a ferocious growl, Riser lifted his arm into the sky where a large ball of Hell-Fire soon formed within his palm and directed it directly towards the demon.

"YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR THAT YOU LITTLE PUNK-**GACK!**" The large fireball suddenly disappeared from Riser's grasp as quickly bent over and grabbed his chest in excruciating pain. Suddenly, a large black line formed straight down his chest where Issei had stabbed him, which suddenly caused his flame wings to disappear where he began plummeting towards the hard ground below. The other Devils could only stare in shock and fear as one of the most prestigious members of the Phenex Clan fell towards the earth.

_***CRACK* **_

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"** screamed Riser in absolute pain as he hit the ground. His body was an absolute mess. Both of his arms were bent in the opposite directions while both his legs were twisted beyond repair. A deep gashes could be found in his arms and legs and a steady flow of blood came pouring out, making four small crimson puddles around him. Though you couldn't see, a couple pieces of sharp rock had managed to hurry themselves deep within his chest after his hard landing. It felt as if he were stabbed by a dozen small knives at once. He desperately tried use his regenerative abilities yet no matter how hard he tried the flames wouldn't come.

All in all it looked as though he were hit by a truck and sent flying into a ditch.

_***bzzzzzt***_

With what little strength he could muster, Riser lifted his pain-filled head to see what made the sudden noise, only to widen his eyes in horror when he saw that he was looking directly up at the eyes of the pale demon that mangled his entire body. The demon in turn, simply stared back down at Riser with his blank green eyes that still weren't even blinking with his head tilted to the side.

For the first time in his entire immortal life, Riser could honestly say that he was scared beyond all reasoning. Never before had he ever felt fear as strong as he was feeling now. And right now it was as if he was staring at the face of death itself.

"P-Please! S-Spare me!" he pleaded to the demon with all of the breath that he could gather within his lungs.

_***CRACK***_

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"** Riser screamed in even more pain and agony as the demon curb stomped its foot directly on top of Riser's arm, completely severing it from the rest of his body. The now useless limb laid lifelessly in a pool of blood that was flowing out of the severed bone, veins and arteries. Small chunks of muscle and bone could be seen flowing inside of the crimson puddle.

Sadly it wasn't done yet. The demon then stepped over the severed arm and walked behind Riser's body where it lifted one of its arms over Riser's legs. Its arm began rippling with black and red tendrils before it once aging took the form of a giant metal blade in the shape of a cleaver. With one swift motion, the demon swung its large blade straight down on Riser's legs.

_***SCHLINK***_

Riser didn't even have the energy or the breath to scream anymore and simply grit his teeth and bit down on his lips in ungodly pain. He could feel all of the feeling slowly leaving his as the blood slowly poured out of the open veins and arteries in his legs. His heartbeat becoming even weaker by the second as it continuously tried to pump more of the crimson liquid throughout the remainder of his body in order to keep him alive. Sadly it was all for not as the blood continued to leave his body.

"P-Please….j-just, k-kill m-me." Said Riser as the light in his vision began to fade. As if suddenly growing a heart within the whole in its chest, the demon reformed its blade arm back to normal before using its other arms to grab Riser by the throat and slowly lift him up off of the ground. The blood that was dripping from his severed limbs began to leak out more fiercely as he came face to face with the demon.

The other Devils in the stands were silently waiting in fearful anticipation to see if the demon would finish the job while others had to quickly vacate the area due to throwing up the contents of their stomachs after witnessing all of the blood and severed limbs. Many of them had actually tried praying in order to thank God that it wasn't them down there, which only caused them to grab their heads in pain since Devils can't pray.

Sirzechs was feeling a mix between all three. He was horrified that this had all gone so wrong so fast yet he was thankful that he wasn't on the receiving end of the large blade, which made him almost vomit in disgust after seeing all of the blood. Grayfia had left minutes ago in order to vacate her stomach of all of the acidic bile while Lord Phenex was busy trying to comfort his wife, who's entire body was shaking into horrible sobs and she cried in her husband's chest after witnessing what had happened to her son.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

_***SNAP* *CRACK* *SQUISH* **_

The Devils looked down into the destroyed arena in even more horror as the demon smashed what was left of Riser's still living body into the ground and began mercilessly beating it into a bloody pulp. One by one, the demon used each and every one of its six arms to beat his body with untamed force that more chunks of skin, bone, and blood began flying out of onto the ground in a sick, horrific crimson pool, while some of it actually stuck to the demon's fists as it continued beating it.

Suddenly the demon's six arms began to violently pulse as black and red vein-like tendrils erupted from its skin and surrounded what was left of Riser's violently beaten body. Much to the Devil' increased horror, the tendrils began ripping away at the body in large bloody chunks that caused most of the Devils to bend over and puke in utter disgust in horror. Even Akeno, who had watched the entire fight along with the ORC and the Student Council, couldn't hold it in anymore and had to quickly vacate the area in order to empty out her stomach.

After what seemed like a gory eternity, the rest of Riser's body was completely absorbed within the demon's tendrils, which retracted and disappeared back into its six arms. After a moment of silence, the demon suddenly doubled over and grabbed its head in pain as numerous of Riser's memories flowed through its mind.

* * *

><p>"<em>Xuelan, Mira, Marion." Said a strict Riser Phenex with his arms crossed as he spoke to three very oddly dressed women in front of him. "Go to the human world, find out where this Issei Hyoudou lives and bring him here, by force if you have to. And if he isn't there, then be sure to capture anyone who might seem close to him as a means of getting him to come here. Also make sure you leave this at wherever he resides." He then handed one of the women a brown piece of paper with a strange black circular symbol on it. "This mission is critical so failure will absolutely not be tolerated. Am I clear?" he asked with his tone rising at the last question. <em>

_In response the three women quickly nodded in complete understanding. "Yes, Lord Riser." They said in unison before transmitting away via magic circle._

* * *

><p>The pain in the demon's head came to an abrupt stop before slowly lifting its head and, for the first time, squinted its eyes and let loose a low growl of anger before suddenly transmitting away and disappearing from the arena, much to the sock and confusion of the surrounding Devils.<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hidden chambers below the Phenex mansion<strong>_

Xuelan stood guard in front of the cell that contained the parents of Issei Hyoudou along with Mira and Marion with a triumphant smirk on her face. Earlier today after they had successfully captured Issei's parents, they had immediately brought them back to the mansion in shackles where they had been strapped to chairs and immediately interrogated for any information regarding their son. Unfortunately, being the stubborn humans that they were, they refused to answer anything they were asked and instead lashed out at the three women demanding to be let go and asking them what they wanted with their son. In response to that, the three Phenex peerage members used their enhanced strength to beat the two parents into unconsciousness before throwing them straight into a cold, hard cell. They still had yet to awaken even after being locked in there for about two hours. Not that it mattered to her anyway since she was tempted to break both their necks right then and there. Sadly, they were still needed to lure in Issei Hyoudou and she didn't want to anger her master.

_***Boom***_

A slight booming noise caused the three women to quickly straighten their postures as they looked around the room for whatever caused the noise. They noticed however that the ground had slightly shook that caused some dust to be kicked off the ceiling, so they deduced whatever it was to be coming outside.

Their heightened senses immediately peeked and chills of fear were sent down all of their spines when they suddenly heard the sounds of loud blood-curling screams.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL IS-_** *HACK* **_

"GET OUT! EVERYBODY GET OUT- _***SLASH* **_

"IT'S KILLING EVERYBODY! SOMEBODY GET- _***STAB***_

"W-What the hell is going on out there?!" asked Marion in a panicked state as her entire body trembled in fear.

"I don't know. But whatever it is it sounds like it's heading this way." Said Xuelan nervously as she brought up her fists in a fighting stance. Mira simply remained quiet and raised her staff in her own battle stance while Marion also brought up her fists, yet still slightly trembling. Silence dawned on the entire chamber as no one dared to make a single sound while still waiting for whatever was causing the outbreak upstairs to come to them.

_***BOOOM***_

Using their enhanced reflexes, the three women were barely able to dodge the chamber's metal exit door that came flying towards them at high speeds, nearly hitting Marion's foot but successfully breaking down the cell's metal bars that held Issei's parents. Both fortunate enough to not be hit by the flying door.

The three fighters quickly got up to their feet and back into their battle ready positions while setting their sights on the chamber's entrance, only to be confused when they saw that nothing was their except for a large cloud of dust that was slowly floating to the ground.

Mira, standing behind the other two women, slowly lowered her staff and looked around the room to still find the place completely empty except for her, Xuelan, and Marion, who too were looking all over the room for any possible intruders. Mira looked behind her and saw that the two human were still laying unconscious on the cell's concrete floor, though both were now slightly buried under a pile of the cell's broken metal bars.

Taking one more look around the room to make absolutely sure that no one was there, Mira set her staff back on the ground before turning back to her two companions.

"Well, it looks like nobody's he-_***SLASH***_

Xuelan and Marion could only gap their mouths and widened their eyes in complete horror when Mira's head suddenly came flying off of her shoulders and tumbling to the ground. Her severed face now completely frozen into her usual bored-looking expression that she always worse. Her headless body stood lifelessly for a few seconds before also falling down to the ground while blood sprayed out of her open neck like a water fountain, creating a crimson pool around her head and body.

It only took a few seconds for the two other women to realize what had happened before Marion let loose a high-pitched scream loud enough to shatter glass, with tears streaming down her eyes. Xuelan's entire body trembled in fear and turned a light shade of green before she quickly stumbled back and emptied the acidic contents of her stomach onto the ground.

_***SLASH***_

Marion's screaming suddenly came to a halt. Xuelan shakily brought up her head in fearful confusion, only to widen her eyes once again in absolute horror when she saw that Marion's entire body was suddenly split vertically in half straight down the middle. Everywhere she looked, she could see Marion's blood, intestines, guts, bones, and brain matter completely severed in half and drowned within an even larger crimson blue. The two bloodied halves of her body were somehow still slightly twitching as her once beautiful tan skin was replaced by red.

Xuelan quickly ejected more stomach bile from her body before letting loose her own high-pitched scream and quickly crawling backwards as far as her arms and legs could carry her.

_***tap***_

Xuelan's heart started beating a mile a second when she suddenly came into contact with something that felt nothing like a cement wall. Using her shaking hands, she slowly brought them up behind her to feel whatever it is she had bumped into.

Only for her to feel nothing but skin.

Her head was a sweating waterfall and she took a big gulp of her own saliva before she _very_ slowly lifted up her trembling head to look up.

The last thing she saw was an upside down pale-white horned head staring right down at her before a large blade was plunged deep into her face.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Phenex arena, fifteen minutes later <strong>_

A dreadful silence reigned over the entire destroyed arena as the surrounding Devils vacated the area as quickly as they could. At the center of the arena, Sirzechs Lucifer himself stood staring down at the large crater that once contained the transformed Issei Hyoudou with a great saddened and disbelieving expression on his face.

To this moment he still had no idea what had gone. All he wanted was to test Issei Hyoudou and his newfound power by holding a simple fight between him and Riser. But after hearing what Riser had done in order to draw Issei into the Underworld, he knew he had made a grave mistake. He knew that Riser wanted to fight him but he wouldn't have allowed him to do so if that meant hurting innocent people in the process. Yes, Sirzechs was a Devil but that didn't mean he enjoyed taking lives. Such a thought of him hurting an innocent person made him cringe in disgust.

If it wasn't for Issei Hyoudou's rage, Sirzechs would have killed Riser himself.

And now because of Riser's foolish mistake, he along with several other Devils were now dead, and the entire Phenex arena along with some of Phenex mansion were now destroyed. This was due to cause a major blow in morale in the near future.

_***bzzzzzzt***_

Sirzechs widened his eyes and quickly looked behind him to see the demonized Issei Hyoudou gently setting down what looked like his parents onto the ground. Upon closer inspection, Sirzechs saw that both were severely beaten to about an inch of their lives, something that made him only even more terrified and thankful that Issei hadn't blown up everything within a ten mile radius. He was debating about whether or not to go over a provide assistance until he Issei raise one of his hands over the two unconscious humans where a bright green light flowed out of his hand and over his parents. Sirzechs widened his eyes further when he saw that all of their injuries had healed up instantly. Both of their chests were steadily rising and falling with steady breathing to make it appear like they were only sleeping. The light disappeared from Issei's hand and he stood back up, not once removing his unblinking gaze from his parents.

Now deciding to take the chance, Sirzechs swallowed a nervous lump in his throat before carefully walking forward and speaking up to get Issei's attention.

"Issei Hyoudou…"

_***HACK* *SLASH***_

Sirzechs took a moment to blink before slowly looking down and widening his eyes in horror when he saw both of his arms were now completely severed and laying lifelessly in the ground in a pool of his own blood. The stumps that used to be his arms where now hanging beside his body slowly dripping blood. But before he could even scream, a large pale hand tightly gripped his throat and lifted him up, only to be slammed down on the ground with a lethal force high enough to crack the cement and to render the Devil King unconscious.

The demon stood over the crimson haired Devil with his blade arm at his side. It was only a matter of time before all those responsible for causing pain to its loved ones were dead and gone. It was no wonder why Lord Azathoth despised these creatures so. They were horrible and uncaring abominations who only seek to gain for themselves whether it was by so called 'peace' or by force. They didn't care at all about any other lives except for their own and it didn't matter to them if innocent people were killed as long as they got what they wanted.

It sickened him. Even though he too was a demon.

With those thoughts in mind the demon raised its blade arms over the unconscious Devil King and was prepared to finish the job once and for all.

_***ba-bump***_

Until it suddenly clutched its chest in pain as its nonexistent heart suddenly came beating to life. This caused his arm to revert back to normal and for a bright light to suddenly erupt from the whole in its chest where it soon covered its entire body. The demon thrashed and moaned in pain but no matter how hard it tried the light wouldn't disappear. A few moments later all movement ceased and the light was completely gone, revealing Issei in his shirtless human form. His skin was a tad paler than normal and his hair was now so dark it looked practically black. He was currently staring up at the Underworld's crimson sky with his unmoving and unblinking eyes that looked completely empty. A minute later there was a light _'thud'_ and Issei was now face down on the floor completely unconscious next to his parents and the dismembered Devil King, leaving the entire arena in silence once more.

A couple minutes went by before over a dozen white and purple magical circles surrounded the entire area.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was busy with finals and I wanted to have a little time off on the first few days on winter break. But I finally found some time to update once again and here it is! The moment you've all been waiting for! I hope it was what you guys were expecting! <strong>

**If you're wondering what Issei's demon form looks like, think of Ulquiorra Cifer's Segunda Etapa and Ichigo's Hollow Form from Bleach put together with an extra set of arms along with the hair being replaced by hundreds of tiny black tentacles. His teleportation is basically the Espada's version of Flash Step (I forgot what it was called), and his blade arm is the same as James Heller's except you replace the red tendrils with green. **

**Anyway, that's the chapter for right now and I hope you enjoyed it! See you all next time and Merry Christmas! **


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